Marine Undercover
by Foxtail-Padfoot
Summary: Tony and Ziva are married! Sorta... Marines with Middle Eastern wives are being targeted and killed, and when team Gibbs steps up to bat, guess who gets to go undercover? Primarily a casefic, but also romance and humor. Rated T. Tiva, McAbby. Ch14 up!
1. Chapter 1

**Marine Undercover**

**A/N: So, my past two have been primarily Tony-centric from point of view, so here's a fun case fic- Tiva of course! - centering on Ziva's thoughts. Least, as close to it as third-person limited POV can get. Plus later in the chapter, I actually did Google Ziva and it wasn't all NCIS. Just most.**

Ziva stared at Tony as she sat down at her desk. Tony was there early, tapping away at the keyboard of his terminal. Well, it actually looked like he had been there all night, from the way his beautiful green eyes were ringed red and his clothes were mussed and his hair looked like he had just woken up. She logged into her computer without looking at the screen, still staring at Tony. He looked like he was about to keel over sideways.

Finally she could not take it anymore, watching him like that, and stalked over to his desk. "Tony!"

"What, ZeeVah?" Tony turned his head to look at her, careful to keep his eyes on her face and not the rest of her.

"Why did you stay here all night?"

"Just felt like it," he commented sarcastically.

Ziva's brow furrowed as she watched him attach a document to an email. "It took you so long to finish your report?"

"No, I didn't do it at all yesterday, couldn't sleep last night, and came in." Tony hit SEND, turning his full attention to his partner. "Problem?"

"You look terrible."

"Thanks," he muttered.

She sighed, opening his desk drawer and pulling out the change of clothes he had stashed there. "That is not what I meant. Go put on your fresh clothes, because that looks like the same suit you wore yesterday."

Tony met her eyes for a moment before turning away from her brown stare and stalking to the men's restroom. Ziva followed after a moment, walking in holding his toothbrush and toothpaste as well as a hairbrush just as he was buttoning his shirt.

"D'you _have_ to do that all the time?" he asked. "And I don't have a hairbrush at work," he added, pointing to the hairbrush she held.

"This is mine," Ziva replied, stepping up so they were just inches apart and placing the supplies on the counter. "Your hair is the worst part."

Tony grinned at her sarcastically. Ziva stepped back, hiding a smile as she joked, "I take it back. Your breath is."

She could not help but stay and watch as Tony finished grooming. He finally turned around after having rinsed his mouth. "Breath better?"

He stepped close to her, and she could feel his hot breath on her face. "Minty fresh," Ziva smirked, sliding out of the inviting cage his body and the wall had formed around her.

As they walked into the bullpen together, Gibbs head slapped both of them. "What was that for?" they said in unison.

Gibbs smirked as he walked to the plasma. "Playing grab-ass in the bathroom."

Tony, Ziva and McGee then gathered around the plasma as Gibbs clicked up slides.

"Nichols' team has had four cases like this so far. He asked me to help him out." Gibbs flicked through several pictures of two victims, male and female. They had been tortured to death, from the look of the images. "Marines with Middle Eastern wives. All four couples."

Tony glanced at Ziva, seeing where this was going. "Undercover job, boss?"

"Yeah, DiNozzo."

"Well, we have the Middle Eastern wife, but who'll be the Marine?" McGee asked, looking between Gibbs and Tony.

The corner of Gibbs' mouth raised a bit as he looked at Ziva. "Who would you rather be married to, David?"

Tony, of course. But she would never tell _him_ that. "You, Gibbs."

"Tony it is. McGee, have Abby help with IDs."

"What? You expect me to _live_ with him twenty-four, seven?" Ziva protested. The protest was genuine; the "ninja" did not think she could take being alone with Tony every night.

"Not twenty-four seven, DiNozzo still has to come to work." Gibbs smirked as he stalked back to his own desk.

Tony groaned audibly, plopping down into his desk chair once more. Ziva paced to her own chair, sitting down quietly as she watched Tony tap out something on his keyboard. _He is typing faster, maybe McGee actually helped him,_ Ziva mused as Tony typed a little more rapidly than normal.

_Bing!_

She had one new email. Ziva opened it, realizing it was from Tony. Whatever was in there, he did not want Gibbs to hear him say it out loud.

It was a message to Abby in the lab, which he had copied her into.

"ABIGAIL SCUITO!

If you do anything embarrassing to the covers of Ziva or myself, I will have her kill you three ways with a paperclip and leave no forensic evidence. Because I know you've told her how. Plus she probably all ready knew.

Remember that! And keep our names the same, please!

xoxo,

Tony"

Ziva almost laughed, but contained herself as she glanced at Gibbs through the corner of her eye. He was watching something on his screen, his attention absorbed, but she knew that the ex-Marine still knew exactly what was going on.

Tony grinned across the bullpen from her.

Then, as soon as Gibbs left for his first of five morning coffee breaks, Tony crossed the few feet between them and sat on the edge of her desk. "What are you doing this Friday?"

"Why?" Ziva asked suspiciously.

"Well, sweetcheeks, it could be our first dinner as husband and wife," he replied, a grin threatening to crack through his straight-and-serious expression.

Ziva smiled, standing up to lean against her desk, hands on either side of Tony. Their faces almost touched as she whispered, "Fine… my little hairy butt."

She then pushed him off of the desk, and he landed on the floor with a _thud_.

****

Meanwhile, Abby and Tim were downstairs formulating names and such for Ziva and Tony. Tim had read the email out to Abby, and she had simply laughed it off. "If Ziva wanted to kill me, she would have already. I've done worse to her."

"The sad part is, that's true," McGee muttered as he punched some commands into the keyboard.

Abby scrunched her face as she looked over the pictures she had chosen for Ziva and Tony's IDs. "Ok, so Tony can keep his name, I guess, since it's common enough. Do you think Ziva should be able to keep hers?"

McGee nodded. "I think so. We haven't done any cases in the town they'll be in, and there are enough hits on Ziva when you type it in on Google. Plus it's not like we ever make the news."

"Okay, makes sense. AND… done. Mr. and Mrs. Smith."

McGee's mouth gaped. "Abby, change their last name."

"Why? Anthony and Ziva Smith sounds okay!"

"Tim just shook his head. "Do you have any idea how much Tony is going to make of that? Plus, I think he watched that with Ziva last week! So she'll make something of it too! And they'll blame it on me!"

Abby gripped his shoulders, looking into his eyes. "Timmy, Smith is a common last name. Plus, are they not Brad and Angelina in their looks?"

McGee just sighed and called Tony. "We have most of it done; do you two want to help with the background?"

There was a moment's pause and Tim heard Tony asking Ziva in the background. "Sure, we're on our way."

"Guess we'll find out," McGee muttered to himself.


	2. Chapter 2

**Marine Undercover**

**A/N: by the way, I know I should be writing Kaleidoscope… But this is my guilty-pleasure type-during-computer-class fic. Plus, I am stuck on Kaleidoscope. And again, I really did Google stuff. I like Google.**

Chapter 2

Tony trailed behind Ziva into the elevator. She could feel his presence behind her, and enjoyed the feeling of having backup 24/7. Tony wasn't like the average Mossad agent; he would stick with you even when his own skin was in danger from it. Mossad, if you were compromised, they killed you.

NCIS saved you.

Their bodies briefly brushed, before Tony stepped back to his usual place two feet from her. Ziva stood in the center of the elevator; half of her hoping Tony would step closer while the other half continued to contemplate the differences between NCIS and Mossad.

The elevator ride passed in a comfortable silence, both lost in their own thoughts, and she jumped slightly when the elevator door _ding_ed open.

"Just the door, Zee," Tony murmured as he brushed past her.

Still in a bit of a daze, for whatever reason, Ziva followed Tony into the lab. Tony gasped when he saw the IDs on the screen.

"You did NOT, McGee!"

"I didn't." Tim replied frankly.

"Abby!" Ziva reprimanded once she as well saw their names. Anthony and Ziva Smith.

"It's a blockbuster movie, someone will get it! Or be suspicious!" Tony's protests were feeble; Smith was a common name and everyone in the room knew it. Ziva and Tony just didn't have to like it.

"Tony, when you Google the name, none of the first page's results even _relate_ to that movie." Abby grinned a bit. "Plus, what's the problem? It makes you Brad Pitt."

Tony made a face in agreement. "That's true. So, what rank am I?"

"Corporal Anthony Smith. Just got home from a second tour in Iraq, stationed in Quantico, you live in a small town nearby with your lovely wife you met on your first tour." Tim clicked through a few photos of Tony and Ziva that he and Abby had photoshopped, plus a few of Marines with a build like Tony's that he had put Tony's face on.

"We temporarily added you to the Marine roster, and you'll be "teaching" at Quantico as a bombs specialist." Abby showed Tony the information, and turned to Ziva. "Ziva, you will be a stay at home wife, who participates in the military support groups of wherever you and Tony live. Patriotic, loyal, and a loving wife."

"You guys will have to turn on the PDA to get our killer's attention, since he has likely already picked out a target and we want it to be you now," Tim added. "Okay, you guys can add some background stuff past the necessaries we have already filled in."

"We'll get right on it," Ziva murmured as she pulled the keyboard to her.

****

Friday Night

Ziva pulled on a slinky blue dress, smoothing out the wrinkles. She ran a brush through her hair, leaving it down and curly. She made sure her Star of David was visible and spritzed some of her pomegranate perfume on lightly, just enough to be noticeable.

The knock on the door did not startle her. It was six-thirty, time for Tony to pick her up. They were heading to Garrisonville, the town they would be living in, for some Italian at a little grill all the victims had gone to often.

She undid the deadbolts quickly, swinging open the door. Tony looked marvelous, in his casual black slacks and a button up dark blue shirt that happened to match her dress. His hair was messy how she liked it, and his mouth was gaping.

Ziva laughed at his expression. "What?"

"Just… nothing. You look great, that's all." Tony quickly shut his mouth and offered his arm to her. Ziva took it, locking the door behind her as she left her building with Tony.

"You don't look so bad yourself," she whispered in his ear.

Tony smiled, opening the door to his Mustang. "My lady," he said flamboyantly, sweeping out his arm.

"Thank you." Ziva got in, sitting in the passenger side seat.

Tony soon got in the driver's seat, and they were off.

****

Tony kept up his gentleman's persona once they were at the restaurant, opening both the car door and the restaurant door for Ziva. She couldn't help but wonder if this was how he acted on all his dates… She supposed so, since Tony was a good person.

Before they got to the maître d', Tony draped his arm casually around Ziva's waist. She placed one hand on his shoulder, and they instantly became a couple.

"Table for two, please," Tony said, and they were immediately led off to a table in the corner, by a window. The grill had a homey feel, and was well-decorated in a welcoming fashion.

"Thank you," Ziva said graciously to the waiter, a young blonde who looked at Tony for a moment. Her eyes then flashed to the diamond ring Ziva wore on her left hand, which Tony had given her earlier to wear. Ziva smiled a little bit as the blonde's face fell.

"You take joy in that, don't you?" Tony commented once the blonde had given them their menus, taken their drink orders and retreated.

"In what?" Ziva asked innocently.

Tony just smiled and shook his head.

The evening passed enjoyably, not how it would once they were under surveillance by Gibbs. Ziva relished the bit of freedom she had now, when Gibbs didn't know they had started the case, knowing Tony would not be as liberal with his shows of affection when Gibbs was on surveillance.

Tony even kissed her, once they had exited the restaurant. Just a peck on the lips, like a husband to a wife after a dinner date. Ziva tried to control her reaction, knowing it was for the case and not for her. Several of the waiting staff they had heard commenting to each other about "the hot couple" were watching out of the window, and both the partners knew it.

"The food was good," Ziva said on the way home, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had fallen after the "kiss".

"Yeah," Tony replied absentmindedly, staring straight ahead.

"The kiss took me by surprise," she murmured quietly, watching his reaction. Just a twitch at the corner of the mouth, but Ziva knew he had enjoyed it as well from that.

"We are married," he finally joked, though the joke fell on deaf ears as Ziva had turned to the window, lost in thought.

So Tony turned back to the road, his own thoughts centering around one thing.

Gibbs is going to _kill_ us.


	3. Chapter 3

Marine Undercover

**A/N: Crappy, crappy, crappy. I hate this chapter, I just need it for where I'm going. Tell me what you think of my terrible skillz please!**

**Also, I do so love having Tony leave drunken messages on people's phones. It's a hobby of mine.... (For those who've read Revelations, and if you are reading Kaleidoscope... I have another one planned. They are so fun.)**

Chapter 3

Tony and Ziva sat three feet apart at the _actual_ conference room's table, avoiding eye contact with the other. They could feel Gibbs' steely blue glare upon them, and it was not a happy glare.

"Explain to me again why you were stupid enough to go in, as your covers, without any warning or backup, not even a communications link with Abby."

She could see Tony's Charles-apple bob as he gulped. "See, Boss, I…"

"You what, DiNozzo?"

"Well…" Tony stammered; trying to put what was on his mind into words.

Why was he so nervous? He was eager to start the case, was all. Tony had piles of paperwork he could have- _should_ have- been doing last night.

So Ziva jumped in. "It was my idea," she vocalized. "I wanted to get the case started, and did not want to ruin Abby's Friday by having her monitor us."

Tony shot her a confused, but grateful, look, and Gibbs' piercing glare turned its full force on her.

Ziva nodded, biting her lip. "It was all me; Tony did not want to go, I had to convince him." Now she could feel Tony's green eyes on her as well, trying to read what was going through her mind.

What was going through her mind? Past jumping at the chance to go on a date with Tony… That would be keeping his head from getting a concussion.

Gibbs finally relinquished his stare, finishing the scolding with a "Vance had better not find out or your asses will be on a platter."

Tony and Ziva nodded eagerly, bumping into each other in their hurry to get out. On their way past the stairwell, Tony's conference room, Tony pushed Ziva into it.

"What the hell, Ziva?" he asked, shoving her into the wall so she could not leave.

Oh, he knew her so well.

"I thought I would save you from a concussion," she replied, partially honestly. "Also, you could not formulate a coherent response."

"But an outright lie? To Gibbs? You are one crazy chick," Tony whispered as an agent walked past, so the man would not hear.

"Well, it was better than a headslap, was it not?" Ziva demanded.

Tony grinned and rolled his eyes in frustration. "Yes, but you don't usually lie to save my skin; you do to save yours! Remember when you wanted me to lie and say I was driving when we rear ended the Embassy car?"

Ziva stepped closer, pushing the boundaries of their usual closeness, almost brushing his body. "That was different than this."

"How?" Tony asked. She could feel the electricity in both their bodies, and it was rather distracting. She considered stepping back, but decided not to.

Ziva smiled, just a quirk at the corner of her mouth. "This time, I need you in working order," she whispered in his ear, her lips nearly brushing his skin.

Then she slipped away, leaving an even more confused Tony staring after her.

**** A TONY SECTION!!!! (Sunday morning- day before insertion)

Tony splashed water over his face, looking at himself in the mirror. Red eyes, check. Shadows, check. Damn confused expression, check.

He'd had a long night filled with bourbon- Gibbs had started to get to him- and had done some thinking. What was she playing at? The scenes in the NCIS conference room and his conference room still plagued his mind.

Why had she done that? Sure, Ziva was his friend; sure, he would do the same for her if the situation called. He would take a bullet for her.

It just wasn't Ziva to take the blame for things he screwed up on. Right?

He couldn't remember when she had… She was right, though, they both needed to be functioning on this one.

And why the hell did she have to tease him so much? Everything about her drew him in, made him want to press her against the wall of that staircase and kiss her, and she had to touch him so much… Keep their bodies in contact, build up the tension then leave him hanging.

A knock at the door alerted him to someone, and he quickly dried his face. Knowing they were likely on the team, Tony kicked the empty bottles of bourbon under his sofa and meandered to the door, letting them think he was just waking up. After all, he only had a few minutes ago.

Tony swung open the door to see McGee.

"MaGoo?" Tony asked, his voice still a little slurred from last night.

"Tony," McGee said, pushing past him into the apartment. "You called me?"

"I did?" Tony was now _very_ bewildered.

"Last night."

Tony groaned, audibly. "Crap."

Tim grimaced as well, pulling out his phone. "My cell was off, so it's on my voicemail."

Tony grabbed the phone, dialing voicemail and playing the message.

"McFreedom! Hey! Hi… My day was crap, how was yours? I had a date with the most gorgeous woman on Earth last night, my idea of course. So, Gibbs is pissed with her, because she took the blame for using our covers… And all I wanted to do was kiss her… But, well, can you blame me? It's _Ziva_!"

Tony went on to ramble drunkenly into the phone for a few minutes, occasionally pausing to swig bourbon. Least, the clinking and gurgling noises sounded like that.

His face grew paler and paler as he continued to drunkenly pour his heart out to Tim's voicemail.

He handed the phone back to McGee, meeting the younger agent's eyes. "That can never leave this room."

McGee nodded, determined to get something cleared up. Abby had sent him on a mission. He would have to be delicate, so Tony didn't know Abby knew…

"If I can ask you, while I'm here, why didn't you tell Abby and me?" Tim inquired.

Tony glared momentarily at his sometimes friend.

"I believe I mentioned that to you last night."

"I didn't listen to the whole thing."

It was true, McGee had not. Abby had, but McGee had decided not to pervade his friend's privacy so much.

Tony sighed heavily, flopping onto his sofa. He hoped McGee wouldn't hear the clinking noises from under the sofa, but since the Probie would have a pretty good idea of what Tony had done last night he decided it didn't really matter.

McGee sat down beside Tony, tentatively. Tony glanced over at Tim for a moment before deciding to respond. "Tim, I am going to tell you something, and it needs to stay a secret for all of time. You can't tell _anyone_ what I am about to share with you."

Tim leaned in eagerly, nodding. "No one will find out, I promise."

Tony whispered conspiratorially, "Abby needs to get her rear end out of my personal life."

Tim leaned away, nodding again. "Fair enough, Tony."

"Leave now?" Tony asked, hopefully.

"After you tell me if you like Ziva."

"Ask Abby, apparently she knows better than me."

"You're always honest when you're drunk."

Didn't he know it.

Crap.


	4. Chapter 4

Marine Undercover

**A/N: My dad just said the weirdest thing. "Your bubbles don't lie." He's talking about what to do if you panic while diving (during the horror movie we are watching) but still. It** **sounds weird.**

**In ONE WEEK we all get to see Tony get beat up!**

Chapter 4

Morning of Insertion

****

Ziva sighed, hauling herself out of bed and prepping quickly for the day in a simple brown pinstriped skirt and a purple sweater that hugged her form in all the right places, as well as brown pumps. She adjusted her Star of David so that it was resting over top of her sweater; this was one of the most important parts, the blatant advertisement of her religion.

She would be keeping a moderately Jewish home, something she had not done for some time. She had convinced Gibbs it was superfluous to be Orthodox, but it would be handy to show more faith than she regularly did.

Therefore, she would try to keep herself and Tony mostly Kosher and she would honor the Shabbat, but she would not attend synagogue or keep a kosher kitchen.

One thing Ziva had wondered was why their killer would be hunting Jews, when Israelis were allied with the United States. When she had asked Tony, he had commented the killer probably did not discriminate, especially as one of the female victims had been Jewish.

Now Ziva quickly got into her Mini, and sped to the Naval Yard where she would meet Tony before riding with him to their new home in the suburbs around Quantico.

Tony's face broke into a huge grin when she pulled into the garage. Ziva smiled back, but did not fail to notice his smile did not hold the same luminosity it usually did. She pushed that to the back of her mind as she stepped out of her Mini.

"Shalom, Tony."

"Shalom, darling," Tony replied, wincing as Gibbs head slapped him. "Didn't see you there, Boss," he gasped.

"That's the point. Ziva, DiNozzo, Nichols will be conducting questions when you get there; you are to live in a house on the street two of the victims lived in. Make sure that you don't contact him in any way other than friendly-people-in-a-new-neighborhood; let the neighbors tell you what happened."

Tony quickly put a hand up to stop Gibbs' tirade. "Relax, Gibbs, we've been under deep cover before."

"I know, DiNozzo. Now, you two should be off; McGee will be by later with your things to place the cameras." Gibbs waved them off as he walked back to the squadroom.

Ziva laughed to herself as Tony opened the passenger door to his Mustang; she slipped inside and closed the door behind her while he walked to the other side.

The drive passed in silence once again, neither saying a word as they neared their destination. Once they were inside the town they would live in, Ziva placed her hand over Tony's, occasionally looking his way. She could not read his reaction, but hoped they could each live with the other for who-knows-how-long they would be on this case.

Eventually, after what seemed an eternity, Tony slowed the Mustang to a halt in front of a cute little green house.

"This is it?" Ziva asked.

Tony nodded. "Our new home, sweetcheeks," he replied slowly.

Ziva's face broke out in a grin and she hopped lightly out. Tony followed her, less bouncy, and together they stood in the driveway and looked around the neighborhood.

"There's Nichols," Tony said softly, just barely motioning to the agent as he conducted follow-up questioning a few houses down the street.

"I see," she replied just as quietly, turning as a woman bustled down the street towards them.

The eager redhead stopped in front of them. "Tony and Ziva Smith?"

Tony refrained from making a Brad and Angelina joke, instead turning on his 'DiNozzo charm' and smiling. "Sure are!"

"So glad to finally meet you in person! I must say, it's an honor to have a Marine in this neighborhood." The redhead nodded to herself, taking in a breath. "Oh, and I almost forgot. I'm your realtor and neighbor, Kelly Anderson."

"You must really love it, to live in this neighborhood as well as sell from it," Ziva commented.

"I sure do, Ziva. This is a wonderful place to live." Kelly's face shadowed for a moment, but she said nothing of the two murders that had taken place on this very street within the past six months.

After a few more minutes of small talk about the weather, who lived where, the neighborhood, Tony's "job" as a bombs teacher at Quantico, and Judaism- Kelly had found Ziva's necklace gorgeous- Tony broke into their discussion about the Shabbat when he felt Ziva squirm a bit against his side.

"I hate to interrupt, but do you think we could move inside?"

Kelly nodded. "Of course! Here." She bustled up the steps and removed a key from a lockbox. "The code is 1254, but you can change it to whatever you like. Trust me, I won't use it." She extended the key to Tony, who took it and unlocked the door.

The inside of the house was just as cute as the outside, with a different theme for every room. The kitchen was a "Garden of Eden" type theme, with potted plants, green counters, oak cabinets, etc. The living room was a nautically themed room; the bedroom was romantically themed, and so on.

"It's great," Tony managed, after the tour was complete. Sure, he had liked some of the rooms, but the heavily cutesy themes in some rooms had been too much. The rubber ducks adorning the walls of the bathroom had just been too much.

"I love it here; I am sure this will be a wonderful place for a family when we decide to start." Ziva smiled at Kelly, rubbing her hand up and down Tony back then pinching him when Kelly turned away. Tony winced but got the message.

Once Kelly had left, Ziva and Tony flopped down simultaneously onto the couch. "Well, that was something else," Ziva murmured.

"Sure was," Tony said. McGee laughed in the com pieces they had just inserted.

"Changed the code yet?"

"No, Bob. Come on in with a load of stuff. 1254." Tony held his cell phone to his ear, in case Kelly had planted a camera. He called McGee Bob for the same reason, and it was fun.

"Right…" McGee unlocked the door a few minutes later, loaded down with boxes. He noticed the two's proximity as well as their seeming oblivion to the closeness, but said nothing. Rather he placed the boxes on the floor next to Tony, and closed the door.

"That it?" Tony asked, sitting up.

"Yes. Now, give your little brother the grand tour," McGee said cheerfully.

"Will do." Tony left Ziva reading on the couch, and showed McGee around. Ziva could hear Tim pretending to exclaim over certain items, and knew he was running his hands over the walls, placing cameras in strategic locations.

Thirty minutes later, McGee departed for the Naval Yard again, leaving the two alone. The house had been bug free, so the two could speak freely for now. McGee had left a sweeper just in case, a surreptitious palm-sized device. Before he left, McGee did whisper one thing to Tony. "If you make a move on her, you'll be dead by gun and glare, remember that."

"That can be my epitaph," Tony replied harshly, also whispering. "Thanks for the reminder, though."

"What was that about?" Ziva asked without looking up from the pages of her novel, which was in Hebrew.

"What was what about?" Tony asked innocently.

"I heard voices, but could not make out all the words." She had actually heard _all_ of them through the com piece McGee had not removed, but she was not sure what to make of them.

"Well, I was just telling McPokey over there," Tony said loudly into the com piece, "that he can keep his nose in his own apartment."

Tony was rewarded with a sigh from McGee. "Tony, I was just pointing it out."

"Whatever, Probester."

"Ok, you guys can take the com pieces out. The cameras are operational," McGee said, and the radio was silent.

Ziva and Tony held their com pieces loosely in their hands, each staring warily at the other. Tony saw in Ziva's eyes that she knew what Tim had told him, and Ziva could see he knew she knew.

That left for her to figure out what McGee had meant.

****

Ziva sent an email to Abby later that evening, once Tony had hurriedly and awkwardly broken the eye contact they had held in order to look over his lesson plans. He would actually be teaching, in order to maintain continuity undercover.

"Abby,

Why is Tony acting so strange? I overheard a conversation between him and McGee earlier, and afterwards he would barely look at me. I know you know the conversation I speak of, as there is no way you would not have been listening.

Ziva."

She sighed, pressing her forehead to the desk once she pressed SEND.

A ding sounded from her computer after just a few seconds. Ziva lifted her head and opened the reply from Abby.

"Ziva,

YEAH I KNOW! WHY WOULDN'T I KNOW?!

Unfortunately, I was sworn to secrecy. *hint hint nudge nudge wink wink*

Abby"

Ziva cocked her head, now more confused. Well… She thought she knew, but it was crazy. Ziva shook her head, trying to clear it, as she closed the computer and walked downstairs to prepare dinner.

****

She loved cooking.

It was therapeutic for her, and seeing the look on Tony's face when he saw her in the apron was no downside, either. "You cook?" he asked, leaning on the counter next to her as she sliced a tomato.

The corner of Ziva's mouth quirked as she turned to face him, noting with satisfaction the flinch he tried to hide when the knife swung towards him.

"Yes, I cook. Now get out of the kitchen before I cook _you_."

Tony quickly retreated, though he remained watching, leaning against the doorframe.

Ziva poured the sliced and diced tomatoes into the saucepan, trying to ignore his eyes on her back.

"Abby feels very strongly about what you discussed with McGee," she began carefully, not looking towards him as she added spinach to the pan.

Tony stiffened; she could see it in the distorted reflection off the pot she had just set to boil.

"I… know. But it's not really her business," he murmured.

"Is it even Tim's business?"

"No."

"So why did you tell him?"

Ziva turned to face Tony. He took in quickly her appearance, messy ponytail with a few stray strands, apron around her waist over a pair of simple blue jeans and… one of _his_ old OSU t-shirts. His heart skipped a beat but he did not comment on it as he formulated a response to her previous question. "I… suppose I just needed some friendly advice."

She raised an eyebrow teasingly. "I am good at giving advice."

Tony's lips raised in a parody of a smile, though it was only not at its usual luminosity to Ziva, since she knew him so well. "Not this advice."

Ziva looked away, searching desperately for something to break the mounting tension. Noticing the pot boiling, she quickly added the pasta as well as some sea salt, then took up a small spoonful of the sauce she had been preparing.

She tasted it, barely noticing the flavors as she thought but knowing it needed something more. Her dark eyes darted to Tony's green ones, still on her face, and she stepped a few feet closer to him.

"Try this."

Tony laughed, shaking his head, but Ziva took the opportunity to shove the spoon towards his open mouth. He gagged in surprise but recovered, sampling the sauce she had been preparing.

"That's good," Tony said, startled. "Really good, Ziva."

"It needs something. What do you think?"

"Uh…" Tony thought for a moment. "Oregano?"

Ziva looked at her pan of homemade sauce and laughed. "Of course. I forgot to add oregano!"

She sprinkled the herb into the dish, stirring it into the sauce. Tony watched her cook, then adjusted his gaze when he saw movement out the window above Ziva's head. He saw two neighbors looking in curiously, then begin to walk over to the house. Once Tony knew they would be watching through the open back door, Tony approached Ziva.


	5. Chapter 5

Marine Undercover

**A/N: I have decided. every Tuesday morning I shall try to update one of my stories, whether this or Kaleidoscope depends on if I have more chapters to post of one than the other. Or if I even have the next hapter of Kaleidoscope done. This one is much easier to write than Kaleidoscope, even if I like Kaleidoscope more personally... Probably 'cause it's dramatic and EPIC.**

Chapter 5

Ziva froze when she felt hands on her waist, and Tony's presence pressed to her body. He lifted the edge of "her" t-shirt with one hand, rubbing the patch of exposed skin gently with his thumb. He leaned his head down and whispered in her ear, "We have visitors." His breath tickled her skin.

She turned around after turning the burner off, sliding her arms up and around his neck, and kissed him gently. A soft cough and a knock on the frame of the back door "alerted" the partners to the neighbors they knew were there.

They turned their heads, and Ziva smiled in feigned embarrassment. Tony looked sheepish. Both were very good actors.

"Sorry, we did not notice you," Ziva called, making sure her voice had just enough of its Middle Eastern lilt as she untangled herself from Tony's embrace.

Tony stepped back, giving Ziva space to finish with dinner, and walked to the door. He extended a hand, flashing his famous smile. "Corporal Anthony Smith, at your service."

"Tom Handal." The man took Tony's hand, shaking it firmly. "It's great to have a member of our armed forces living here again."

The man, a tall man with a slight German accent and Aryan features, exchanged a quick and meaningful look with the woman, a thickly built but not overweight short brunette.

The woman, presumably his wife, also shook Tony's hand. "Karen Handal."

Tony nodded. "Nice to meet you both." He then motioned back to Ziva as the Israeli moved the cooked pasta onto two plates. "This is my wife, Ziva."

Ziva looked up, smiling. "Would you like to join us? I have plenty of spaghetti prepared."

Karen shook her head. "We wouldn't want to impose ourselves on you."

"It's not a problem at all," Tony insisted. "Please join us for dinner. We can chat up the neighborhood," he added with a grin.

"Why not?" Tom finally acquiesced, stepping inside.

Karen followed after a moment, and Tony closed the door behind them then joined Ziva in the kitchen to get everything ready.

Both knew the Handals were watching and made sure to be familiar- a brush of their hands here, a rub on the other's back there.

When Tony turned around, bearing two of the four plates, he noticed a quick flash of apparent hatred on Tom's face, though it was quickly replaced by an expression of friendliness.

Tony kept the surprise off his face, and knew from the slight stiffening of Ziva beside him that she had noticed the micro expression as well.

Ziva and Tony set the dishes down on the table, and then sat down on the same side, looking at Tom and Karen across from them.

"So how long have you two lived in here?" Tony eventually asked, after a moment of awkward silence.

"Oh, five years or so. Maybe six," Karen replied. "We love living here. I hate to change the subject so soon, but Ziva, where is your accent from?" she said, turning to the assassin.

"Israel," Ziva said.

"I met Ziva on my first tour in Iraq. She was visiting family," Tony put in, pulling her hair from her face with a loving expression.

"Family in Iraq?" Karen asked. "Are you Muslim?"

"Jewish," Ziva said, fingering her Star of David charm. "My cousin is an American Marine. He was in Tony's unit, actually."

"Abid's a great guy," Tony commented. "Less orthodox than Zee, which made it easier to share a pepperoni pizza with him."

Ziva elbowed Tony in the ribs playfully. "If I do not tell you they are turkey, you do not even notice."

Tony smiled endearingly, before returning his gaze to the Handels. "Abid decided to hook us up. He invited Zee over the same night as our game night, and from there… it just kind of fell into place. I proposed four months later, as soon as I was on leave, and she got her visa and here we are, another tour later."

Karen smiled, obviously finding the story adorable, and Tom simply looked at them, an odd and unreadable expression gracing his strong features.

"So, I've heard a few people talking about other military living in the neighborhood. Who all's in here?" Tony asked casually.

"Just the Devereauxes, over on Maple Street," Karen said sadly. "We used to have a few more families…"

"What happened?" Ziva inquired.

"They were murdered," Tom said bluntly. "The Kelleses just last week; there's still an NCIS agent in the neighborhood every few days."

"Oi va'avoi li!" Ziva exclaimed, gripping Tony's hand over the table. "That is terrible!"

"Marines _and_ their spouses?" Tony asked, looking at Ziva with concern in his eyes.

"Yes, and we feel so sorry for their families," Karen mourned. "They were all just so nice… I loved learning about other cultures."

"I am sure Marines are very worldly, even if mine is not," Ziva said teasingly, directing the last part at Tony.

"Their wives were Middle Eastern. The ones whose wives weren't moved anyway, except the Deverauxes because Hadil refused to move even though she made them a target. John didn't want to leave either," Tom added.

Tony nodded. "I don't think we will, either. We just moved here; I'm not going to be scared off so soon."

He looked to Ziva. She nodded in agreement, still acting speechless.

Karen's eyes followed Tom's to the clock, and she started. "Oh, my! It's been much too long; I didn't mean for us to intrude on you like this."

"It's fine," Ziva replied graciously as she led the couple to the door. _Thank Goodness,_ she thought. _Tom, as Tony would say it, stranges me out._

Once the couple had left, Ziva fell back onto the couch. "I cooked, you clean," she called to Tony, who was already heading for the kitchen.

"I intended on it."

A small smile lit her face as she watched him working to clean up. This could work, could it not? Electricity shot through her body, tingling on her skin, whenever he touched her; but she would not give in, and had not yet. She could make it until they had the evidence the team needed to solve this.

It was working for them, as well. As a couple. They had always made a great pair… Now Ziva just needed to figure out personally how she could transfer it to a romantic appearance while not revealing more of herself to Tony.

After several minutes had passed, Tony turned around, drying his hands with the dishcloth. He grinned at the look of rapture on Ziva's face.

"What has you so deep in thought?" he asked, having walked around the oblivious Israeli to lean over her on the couch. Ziva started at the voice, whipping around to find herself face to face with Tony.

"Tony! When did you finish?"

Tony grinned, his broad smile melting her heart. "About two minutes ago. You must be thinking about very important things, ninja."

Ziva nodded absentmindedly, her brown eyes studying his face. "Yes," she murmured absentmindedly.

His closeness was beginning to disturb her. Not that she minded; it was just that she was sure she would kiss him soon.

Finally, she closed her eyes and leaned her head back, pretending she was brave enough to do what she wanted to.

Tony was enduring a similar struggle. He also managed to keep it together, but barely, and he was not sure for how long. He cleared his throat, sitting on the couch to her right and throwing his left arm over the back of the couch.

"So, uh, you up for some Bond?" he asked.

Ziva lifted her head and looked at him, rolling her eyes. "I suppose, since _you_ are _always_ in the mood for Bond."

"Okay!" Tony quickly ran to the TV cabinet, trying to take his mind off of the beautiful woman behind him by admiring the beautiful women on the covers of his DVDs.

It wasn't working, so Tony just grabbed the first one his fingers went to and put it in.

"I thought you did not like the new Bond movies?" Ziva asked after he sat back down.

"I can sit through one once in a while, and I know you like laughing at the inaccuracies in them." Tony flashed a brief smile in her direction as he returned to his former position with his arm over her shoulders.

She snuggled into Tony without thinking. Ziva's eyes widened, but she could not move now. Tony did not seem to notice; actually he adjusted her position against his side without even paying attention. What she did not see was the way his own eyes widened in shock as he realized what they were both doing, then the way his face broke out into a small smile.

Ziva eventually fell asleep against his side, and once the movie was over Tony turned off the TV and carried Ziva upstairs, laying her down on the king size bed. His eyes travelled over her, and finally he pulled off her blue jeans, leaving on the OSU shirt. Tony turned away quickly and changed into his own pajamas.

Ziva woke up as Tony was changing, and averted her eyes as he pulled on some sweats, noticing that he did not put on a t-shirt. She would have to exercise self control the next morning… When he turned, she quickly closed her eyes, feigning sleep.

Tony rubbed the back of his neck as he got in the large bed, something she noticed through slitted eyes, and he slid under the blankets, careful to keep a few feet between their bodies.

She decided to play with him; in her "sleep", Ziva rolled closer, tossing an arm over Tony and snuggling in. Ziva could imagine the look on Tony's face, one of shock, but could not see now how his face lit up. All she knew was that he then rolled so both of them were closer to the middle of the bed, and still on their own sides.

"You are one sneaky devil," he whispered to her.

Ziva sat up, looking at him indignantly. "You are the one who took my clothes off," she replied.

Tony sat up as well. "You were asleep and snoring. I didn't want to wake you up, for fear of my life."

Ziva smiled, having no argument for that, and laid back down, propping her head on one elbow. "We might as well enjoy this while it lasts," she said, raising an eyebrow.

His green eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What do you suggest?"

"Abby said we should run up the affection, correct?"

"Play up," he said, taking some of the hint and leaning so he was on top of her, their faces nearly touching. "And yes."

"And they could be watching, yes? Not Abby, but whoever is killing Marines?"

"Yeah," Tony replied, running his lips over her neck. Ziva smiled to herself, wondering how crazy she was, but responded by raking her hands over the bare skin of his back.

When his face came up to hers, Ziva whispered, "Jean-Paul and Sophie." He nodded imperceptibly, having figured they would not really do anything.

Tony had forgotten McGee had placed a camera in the bedroom, though…


	6. Chapter 6

Marine Undercover

**A/N: Do you guys have no respect for my powers of censorship? Also, and I going to give you a steamy X rated scene in a T rated fic in the sixth chapter of many more planned, on the end of the first day of a possibly multi-month undercover assignment when the two main characters haven't even given into their temptations fully and admitted their love? So... yeah. Seriously?**

Chapter 6

McGee gulped when he saw Gibbs' face. The team leader always had to come in at the most inopportune times, and Tony and Ziva starting to make out was definitely one of those. "Call them. Now."

Gibbs' commands left no room for argument, so McGee dialed the house line that had been installed for undercover use. He'd made sure it had caller ID, and put himself in as Bob Smith. Joy.

He watched Tony get up, saw Ziva's irritated face, and could only assume that the phone had started ringing. Tony picked it up. "It's eleven thirty, Bob. Why are you still up?"

"The camera's broke. Dad got mad, wanted your help fixing it."

Tony cursed under his breath, McGee having reminded him of the camera. "Well, tell Dad that the French tech guy on the top floor might be able to help him."

Hopefully McGee would get the hint.

McGee said "oh" in understanding. "Thanks, bro."

"Don't call me that." Tony sighed. "Good _night_, go to _sleep_ and leave me alone now."

"Night." McGee hung up the speakerphone, looking at Gibbs. "Last time they went undercover-"

"They were French. I know, McGee. And for god's sake, why _did_ you put a camera in the bedroom?"

McGee grimaced. "Didn't think about it, I guess."

"Obviously," Gibbs replied, with a withering glare.

McGee returned his gaze to the camera, just in time to see Tony cover the lens with a clock.

****

Tony returned to the bed, flopping down beside Ziva. "Now that the moment was totally ruined, I think we can say good night."

"Laila tov," Ziva replied quietly.

"Laila tov," Tony said.

The next morning, Ziva woke Tony up at six thirty. "It is your first day at the base; you need to be there in forty five minutes."

"Why are you wet?" Tony asked as he rolled out of bed onto the floor with a _thump_.

"Because I just got out of the shower," Ziva replied.

"Oh." Tony stood up, grabbed his uniform and headed into the bathroom. Twenty minutes later, he went downstairs to find breakfast already mostly ready.

"How on earth do you _do_ that?"

"Do what?" Ziva asked, turning to him from her place at the griddle.

Tony held up a hand. "Never mind; I don't want to hear about your ninja skills."

He grabbed a plate and piled it with pancakes and bacon. Ziva laughed as he ate; then Tony noticed what she was laughing about. "Why did you feed me turkey bacon?"

"It is the same thing, but kosher," she responded lightly.

"I'm never going to get used to this," Tony muttered. "Okay, I got to go if I'm going to make it on time. See you tonight."

"Sheyihiye lecha yom na'im," Ziva said as she kissed him lightly in front of the open door.

"You have a nice day too," Tony replied, returning the kiss then getting in the car and driving off.

Ziva's mouth raised in a smile as she watched him for a moment, then stepped inside.

Barely an hour later, Ziva headed to the park in the neighborhood. She brought her book, a Hebrew romance novel, and sat down on the ground underneath a large oak tree. She breathed in the crisp autumn air, watching the leaves sway in the wind. They were beginning to change, and occasionally one would flutter down from the tree branches, its edges turned gold by the morning sun.

A smile twisting her lips, Ziva pressed her back against the rough bark of the huge tree, contemplating again the differences between Israel and America. This time of the year, her homeland would be still dry and arid, maybe moving into the cooler rainy season. America was blossoming into the brilliant colors of fall, something she had not known except in movies before her job at NCIS.

Laughing at her own constant contrasting of the two places she loved, Ziva flipped open her book to her spot and began to read.

Just twenty minutes later, a shadow crossed over the familiar Hebrew characters, and a little girl's voice chattered overhead. "You're pretty. Are you new?"

Ziva looked up with a smile. "Yes, I just moved here with my husband. My name is Ziva."

"I'm Katie." The girl, an adorable blonde, waved to her. "My mommy wanted me to stay away from you. But you look nice."

"Why does your mommy want you not to talk to me? And who is your mommy?" Ziva asked cautiously.

"She says not to talk to strangers. Mommy's over there," Katie replied, motioning towards a young blonde Ziva had seen the other day when she and Tony were driving into the neighborhood, working in a plot of flowers.

Ziva stood up. "May I meet your mom?"

"Yeah." Katie grabbed Ziva's hand, tugging as she ran to her mother.

"Katie!" her mother scolded. "You know what I told you about strangers!"

"It is quite all right," Ziva interjected in the little girl's defense. "I would never harm her."

"Well, sure," ceded Katie's mom, "but not everyone is a nice person."

Ziva could not help but remember what her former job and what she had seen every day while she lived in Israel. It made her feel guilty, which it should not, but it did. "I know. I am Ziva Smith, by the way."

She extended her free hand, which the other woman took firmly. "Shelby Hartsoe."

"It is nice to meet you," Ziva said sincerely. Katie was just too cute.

"Hey, is your husband the new Marine in the neighborhood?" Shelby asked.

"Yes, Corporal Smith."

"Great to have you guys here. I hope you're not scared of what's been happening," Shelby added, glancing at Ziva's necklace.

"No. We will not let that scare us away. Besides, Tony is a tough man to kill."

"Two tours, I'm sure he is," Shelby grinned. "Hey, some of the neighbors are having a little fiesta tonight, grown-ups only. Would you and your husband like to come?"

"That would be wonderful. What is the address, and when should we attend?"

"Oh, it's at my place. The first house on the left when you come into the neighborhood is the easiest way to say where it is, and any time between eight and nine is fine. Katie will be spending the night at a friend's house, so we can party all night long," Shelby laughed. "Not that we will, since most of us have work tomorrow."

"Sounds delightful," Ziva said. "I will be sure to drag Tony over. May I ask how old Katie is? She is a wonderful child."

"Katie is going to be five in just a few days. She starts kindergarten next year," Shelby said proudly.

Ziva smiled at the little girl, who was examining Ziva's book. "The letters are funky," Katie complained.

"All letters are funky to you. You can't read!" Shelby replied, grinning at her daughter's antics. "Sorry," she added, gently taking the book and handing it back to Ziva.

"It is not a problem. I get that all the time from Tony."

It took Shelby a minute or two to stop laughing. "You must really love him, to put up with that," she managed to choke out.

Ziva smiled. "We make it work somehow."

"Well, I won't keep you from your day, and I need to get Katie to the babysitter's so I can go grocery shopping," Shelby said. "It was nice meeting you."

"Same here. I cannot wait until tonight."

"See you!"

Ziva watched Shelby lead off Katie, both of them laughing at something Katie had just shown her mother. It made the Israeli think… Children might be nice someday, far in the future, where she could settle down away from all the bad things, far from the Middle East. Her homeland was no place for children, as she knew very well from her own childhood. Tali was the proof, in Ziva's mind.

A few tears threatened to leak as Ziva remembered her sister, but she contained them and made her way back to her and Tony's temporary house.

****

Later that evening, as Ziva prepared a simple dinner of chicken and couscous, she heard the turn of a key in the lock, and Tony came in. "Honey, I'm home," he called.

"In the kitchen," Ziva called in reply.

Tony came in, already beginning to remove his uniform, now in just the white t-shirt and camo pants. "Yum," he said when he saw the chicken cooking in the pan.

"We are going to a party tonight."

"Really?" Tony said, turning her around to face him. He looked over her clothes briefly; the purple long sleeved shirt he liked on her, and the familiar tan cargo pants, with her Star of David sitting bright over her top.

"Yes, Shelby Hartsoe is holding a 'fiesta' for several of the neighbors and invited me when I was at the park. Her daughter Katie is adorable."

"Glad to hear," Tony replied. "Should I be taking a hint?"

"No," Ziva laughed. "I would prefer it I you did not for now."

For now? Gosh, she was being stupid on this assignment. Hopefully Tony would not read into that. However, he knew she might want children, so maybe she could get away with the slip.

Tony smiled knowingly, then turned her back around to face the stove. "Cook, my mistress of the kitchen."

Ziva laughed as she prodded the contents of the pan, then set the water boiling for the couscous.


	7. Chapter 7

Marine Undercover

**A/N: I had to look up the rules to Candyland, cos it's been so long since I've played. Also, my Kaleidoscope readers: Is it just me, or did the Ziva/Gibbs confrontation and then some of her monologues remind you of some of my reflections and conversations? So far this season is creepy close to what I wrote....**

**Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS. I wish I did, cos ten the kiss last night woulda been a couple inches to the left...**

Chapter 7

Ziva leaned against Tony as he flipped through the clothes hanging in the closet. "How about the blue shirt? It is a good day for blue."

"Nah… Why is this so hard?"

"I do not know. It is you making it hard. What about the green shirt?" Ziva put in, naming her favorite shirt on him.

"Sure," Tony said, grabbing the dress shirt off the rack. "Okay, now go away."

"I have seen you naked, shirtless is no problem. Besides, I need to change my own clothes," Ziva said, grabbing a simple green form fitting t-shirt and a pair of nice blue jeans.

Without gauging Tony's reaction at all, Ziva began changing out of her day clothes and into the comfortable, but nice, ensemble.

Ziva turned around when she was done, to find Tony doing up the last button on his shirt, just staring at her. She swatted his hand from the button casually, saying, "I like one undone, maybe even two depending on the day. And why do you look like your eyes have been glued to me?"

His brow furrowed but he did not answer. Tony walked out of the closet and quickly jogged downstairs, grabbing the keys.

Ziva followed him down slower, and raised an eyebrow to herself at his haste. She decided not to comment, however, and instead followed her partner out the door.

"The first house on the left when you are coming into the neighborhood," Ziva directed once they had locked the door.

Tony nodded, pulling her waist so she was closer to him. Ziva circled an arm around his waist as well, and together they walked to Shelby's house.

Ziva knocked on the door, and Shelby almost immediately opened it. "Hey! I'm glad you two could make it," the single mother said happily. "Come on in; you can meet the Deverauxes, the Handels met you last night?"

Tony nodded. "Yeah, we ate dinner together."

Shelby smiled, leading the two into the living room. "Okay, this is Garrett Deveraux, and Hadil."

Garrett, a broad man, obviously Marine, with a short brown crew cut, nodded politely to Tony and Ziva, as did Hadil, who did not cover her hair. Ziva noted this; she had figured the woman was not strict on her rules, or Garrett would be Muslim as well, but it was always interesting to see the levels of faith people held.

"Guys, this is Tony and Ziva Smith." Shelby waved the couple to a seat. "Sit anywhere, we're just waiting for my friend to show up."

Tony sat down on an armchair, and Ziva perched on the arm beside him. Tony kept one arm looped around her waist, partially for her balance and partially for show. They smiled at each other, neither exactly sure if the warmth in the other's eyes was for the case or for each other.

The group sat in uncomfortable silence for a moment as Shelby ran into the kitchen to check whatever she was making. Shelby ran back out just as Tony was about to open his mouth. "Sorry this place is such a mess; I've been cleaning all day, but that's not an easy job with a four year old."

Ziva laughed, thinking of the mess she often cleaned up after Tony had been at her apartment, as did Karen. Hadil smiled, looking over at her husband. "I think we all know how you feel sometimes, Shelby," Ziva remarked when she noticed the women's glances were all towards their partners.

Shelby chuckled. "Yeah, I knew it with Steve sometimes. Before the bastard went and left me alone with a two year old little girl." The other women sighed apologetically; this must be a common peeve of Shelby's. Ziva could not blame her; if she had a child and the father deserted, she would likely use her Mossad connections to hunt him down and-

She would not get into that line of thinking now.

Her eyes flicked down to Tony's out of habit, and she found there was a slight worried expression. Ziva realized she must have tensed, from his hand gently rubbing the small of her back, so she smiled reassuringly.

Tony returned the smile, if a little half heartedly, and turned to Garret Deveraux. "Garrett, what do you do in the Marines?"

"Sniper." The man grinned to himself. "You?"

"Bombs specialist. I'm teaching at Quantico right now."

"Nice. How many tours?"

"Two. You?"

"Three." The older Marine smiled. "Guess we both have that tough gene."

Tony laughed. "Probably so. Especially in our lines of work."

"Yeah. So, where are you from, Ziva?" he asked, changing his gaze to the Mossad officer.

"Israel," she replied.

Hadil sighed. "It's a shame what's going on over there. I am glad I met Garrett; I'm definitely more of the Western type."

"I am glad my brother is a Marine. He moved to America when he was young, with my mother, and joined the Corps. He introduced us," Ziva said, nodding in agreement as she poked Tony's ribs.

"Ow," he commented, narrowing his eyes at the same time as the rest of the room laughed.

The doorbell rang just a few seconds after, and Shelby ran from the kitchen to the door in record time. She opened it, and squealed happily. "Sarah!"

"Shelby!" squealed an equally-as-excited woman's voice. It was vaguely familiar…

"Crap," whispered McGee in the com pieces Tony and Ziva had inserted before entering the house. "If that's who I think it is…"

"Tony? Ziva?" Sarah McGee asked as she came around the corner. "I didn't know you guys knew Shelby…"

Sarah picked up her cell phone as it rang. "Sorry, I have to take this. It's Tim," she added to Shelby, who sighed.

"You need to introduce me to him sometime. He sounds like someone I could beat up easily."

Tony almost laughed out loud, but Ziva purposely fell into his lap to stop him.

Sarah stepped into the next room, and they heard McGee talking with her in the com piece. "Sarah, Tony and Ziva are undercover. Tony's a Marine home from his second tour, and Ziva is his wife. They're the Smiths. I'm pretending to be Tony's brother Bob, so… You can either say that you know them because you're my friend, or you can be our cousin. We need their covers not to be blown on their second day out, Sarah."

"Okay. Tell Cousin Bob I say hi and I hope Uncle Jethro gets better soon."

Sarah smirked as she hung up, and stepped back into the room. "He just wanted to tell me our uncle has a cold. Honestly, the man can keep nothing to himself."

"Looks like you are the invisible man now, McGee," Ziva whispered as she walked into the kitchen to get a glass of water.

"Yup." McGee sounded relieved; it was a good thing he had averted a possibly disastrous situation.

Ziva returned to the kitchen in time to catch Sarah explaining that she was Tony's "cousin". "We remembered to tell you Tony had been stationed at Quantico, did we not?" Ziva asked as she returned to her seat on the arm of the chair.

"No, I think Bob did; it just slipped my mind," Sarah replied. "And it's nice to have you guys in the neighborhood, really it is."

"So, Garrett, Hadil, Karen, and Tom; this is Sarah. I wanted to have her over tonight even though she doesn't live in here; she was my lower class friend during school, and we kept in touch after I graduated. Today was the perfect opportunity to have all my friends in here meet her! Even if two of you are related to Sarah," Shelby added, grinning at Tony and Ziva.

Tony grinned, raising an eyebrow at Sarah. "So how is Tim doing? We haven't talked to him for a while."

"You mean you haven't teased him for a while," Sarah responded.

"Tease, talk, they're just words."

"He's doing fine. Overprotective and melodramatic, but fine."

Shelby interrupted, coming back out of the kitchen with a large plate of brownies. "Okay, so we have our evening snacks, it's time to play some games!"

Garrett laughed. "I think I can safely say that this entire room is mentally teenagers."

"But it's fun to be a teenager!" Shelby responded with a huge smile. "I only get Katie out of the house every once in a while, and I love her to death but sometimes it's just nice to not be a mom for a night."

"What shall we play tonight?" Karen asked. Game nights were regular, apparently.

"I was thinking Scrabble," Shelby said.

"I brought Candyland," Sarah put in, removing the box that had been in her over the shoulder bag.

"Awesome!" Tony yelled. Ziva laughed at his eagerness.

"What is Candyland?" she asked.

There were general gasps from most of the room. "You mean I've been married to you for five years and never played Candyland with you?" Tony asked.

"Yes," Ziva replied.

"Well, Candyland is only the best game ever," Shelby remarked.

"Set it up!" Hadil said excitedly.

Sarah and Shelby set up the game quickly. "I have the good version, with Queen Frostine and the Molasses Monster and not Princess Frostine and the Chocolate Monster. I brought it for Katie's birthday, since I only play it over here anyway," Sarah commented to Shelby as she finished shuffling the deck.

"Wonderful! Katie will love it."

The group settled in a circle, and Sarah went first. By the end of the game, about an hour of yelling adults acting like _they_ were four and not Katie, Ziva was flat on the floor laughing so hard she thought her ribs would break. This made all the others laugh, except for Tony, who was gloating because he won.

Tony pulled Ziva up, planting a brief kiss on her lips, and she smacked him. "What was that for?" Tony complained.

"Gloating over winning a game of pure chance," Ziva responded cheekily.

"Aren't they all?" Tony responded with a smile.

"Are they all what?"

"Games of chance," Tony replied, meeting her eyes.

"If you say so," Ziva answered, looking into his green eyes.

A cough reminded them of the others' presence, and they both looked up, genuinely embarrassed. Sarah smiled at them, seemingly omniscient- to Ziva it looked as if the young McGee knew exactly what she was thinking- and began clearing up the board game.

"It's getting late, you guys all have work, and I have a test tomorrow. I say we pack it up," Sarah said.

There were murmurs of agreement and the group split for the night, each warmly wishing the others good night.

Tony and Ziva walked back the three streets to their own house, the Handels several yards in front of them. Their fingers were laced together, and they swung their hands back and forth in time. Ziva occasionally glanced over at Tony, wondering what was responsible for the way he had looked at her earlier…

McGee finally coughed into their com pieces, getting their attentions. "Just so that you guys know, Gibbs is mad. Again. And I don't like being around him when he's mad, so guys, please be careful with what you say… or do… while Gibbs is at the cameras."

Ziva sighed to let McGee know she acknowledged him. She supposed that seducing Tony, even if it was not real for him, was not a good idea. For McGee's safety, at least. And theirs when they returned to normal work.

Tony groaned as soon as they were in the bedroom, com pieces out. He looked at the camera, still blocked by the tall clock he had placed in front of it.

Sparing a tiny glance for Ziva, Tony flopped backwards on the bed. Ziva sat next to him, finally giving in and leaning back so they were both looking up at the ceiling, next to each other.

"Long day," Ziva murmured.

"Yeah."

Tony did not look at her, just kept his gaze fixed to the ceiling. Ziva looked at the camera, making sure the bed was not visible, and rolled so that she was on top of Tony. She propped her chin on his chest, trying to get a reaction out of him, but there was none.

Her mouth pursed in frustration, but when she spoke, it was quietly. "Tony, what has gotten into your boxers? You are acting standawayish."

"Pants and standoffish," he corrected automatically.

"Tony!"

"What?" he snapped, rolling so that he was the one pressing his body down and looking at her.

"Give me an answer," Ziva said, trying not to be distracted by the fact that he might actually be able to take her in a fair fight.

It was somewhat hard to miss, though, when his body was pinning her down…

"Sure you want to know?"

"Yes I am sure. You are my partner," she snapped.

"Too bad. Because it's not for you to know." He got up, walking to the dresser and pulling out his clothes for the night. Ziva sighed in exasperation.

Sometimes he drove her crazy.


	8. Chapter 8

Marine Undercover

**A/N: Have never actually been a part of a military support group, so, I'm winging that part. I am patriotic; the two military ribbon magnets in my locker can tell you that; I'm just a minor though… **

**And, Kate! You have no idea how special that review made me feel! Yayzers!**

**So many of you reviewed, I felt compelled to update sooner than planned. I try to update this one every couple of days, so I can stay a bit ahead of my posting, but… if you keep reviewing I will keep writing. So there. It just makes me sad I get more reviews for this than Kaleidoscope… So go read Revelations then Kaleidoscope!**

**Ok, done rambling.**

Chapter 8

Ziva stared at Tony, her eyes narrowing carefully as she thought. Were McGee and Abby right, or had she said something to make him upset?

"Tony…"

He turned and eyed her for a moment, before grabbing his things and heading into the bathroom. Ziva sighed, fed up with his silence, and began changing into her own clothing.

"Night," he muttered a few minutes later, as they traded places and Ziva went into the bathroom. She brushed her teeth, watching him carefully through the open door.

She brushed her hair quickly and turned off the lights, slipping under the blankets beside Tony.

Ziva was the first to awaken the next morning, with her usual precision of waking up at precisely seven minutes to five a.m. The first thing she noticed before opening her eyes, was it was very warm, and she was very comfortable.

When she opened her eyes, her face was inches away from Tony's. Apparently, she had rolled closer to him in her sleep, and he had not pushed her away, judging from his arm circling her body. Ziva smiled slightly, deciding to play with him a little bit, since Gibbs would not be able to see.

She ran her lips down the side of his face and down his neck, smiling as she did so. "Time to wake up," she whispered into his skin.

Tony stirred, his arms first tightening their grip, but then his eyes shot open. "Ziva!" he gasped, quickly sitting up. "What are you doing?"

Ziva sat up as well, cocking her head as she fought to keep the broad, teasing grin off her face.

"I was merely waking you up," she responded.

"I… didn't mean that…" he stammered. "I meant waking up with you-…" Tony stumbled over the words.

"In your arms?" Ziva laughed at the look on Tony's face, one of utter embarrassment and something else she could not quite read.

"Yeah," he acceded lamely.

The corner of her mouth perked. "_That_ was not my doing. I woke up there."

Tony glared for a moment before half climbing, half rolling out of the bed and getting his clothes for the day. Ziva followed suit, more gracefully, before she put on running clothes while Tony took his shower. She left a note for Tony and exited the house.

Her cell phone rang, and she answered the phone for "Bob".

"Hello, Bob."

"So… What was up in the bedroom? Tony is making breakfast and he looks peeved."

"It is nothing, Bob."

"You know I'll just call him next, right?"

"Go ahead."

Ziva flipped closed the phone, knowing that the cordless house line would soon be ringing for Tony.

****

Tony grabbed the phone and propped it under one ear. "Hello," he said into the device as he flipped pancakes.

"Tony!"

"Bob," Tony greeted cautiously.

"What is going on with you and Ziva? One second you two are sound asleep, and then Ziva's stalking out of the house and you're downstairs a minute later looking ready to kill those poor pancakes."

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with, brother."

"She said something similar."

"You know, you keep bothering me at these hours it could compromise the integrity of my job," Tony commented before hanging up on McGee. The double meaning was clear to McGee.

A few seconds later, Tony heard the key turn in the lock and wheeled to face Ziva.

**** (For continuity of POV)

Ziva pursed her lips when she saw Tony's angry expression, and she wiped sweat from her forehead. Stepping into the kitchen, she shoved her face into his, standing on tiptoes so she could meet his eyes easily. "Tony, I do not understand what your problem is."

"_My_ problem?" Tony hissed. "Every day, I have to put up with…" He trailed off, backing away, his expression changing from anger to worry in a split second.

Ziva raised an eyebrow. "Every day you put up with what?"

"Nothing," Tony muttered. It definitely was not the time for _that_ conversation.

Ziva bit her lip, sinking back onto her feet. "Eat breakfast; you have to go to the base soon." She decided to go back to the happy couple persona they had taken on over the course of this assignment.

"Go take a shower; you stink." Tony's smile told her it had worked, at least a little bit. Ziva jogged upstairs, narrowing her eyes at the camera on top of the stairs for a moment. This was McGee's fault.

She was happy to blame McGee.

Ziva let the steam clear her lungs. She breathed deeply, but showered quickly to catch Tony before he left. He would not need to leave for another half hour, but odds were with how he had been acting, he would leave as soon as he finished eating.

Wrapping a towel around herself, she hurried downstairs. "Tony?" she called.

Tony turned around, his hand on the doorknob. Tony's face split into a grin when he saw her. "Trying a new look?"

"I wanted to catch you before you left."

"Oh, yeah?" Tony's hand slipped off the doorknob as he stepped closer to her, pulling her in for a quick kiss, making sure it was visible from the windows, for the purpose of the assignment. Ziva smiled as Tony opened the door and left for the day.

She then remembered she had not changed yet, and dashed back upstairs to put on her clothes for the day.

****

Ziva chewed her lip, looking through the clothes she had laid out before her shower. A simple pair of khaki pants, a green long sleeved shirt, and a pair of suspicious underwear. She could have sworn she had grabbed a pair of white underwear, but these were red. When Ziva realized Tony must have changed them out, she laughed out loud, but changed quickly anyhow. The military support meeting started soon, and she wanted to walk.

When Ziva arrived at the house in the back that was hosting the meeting, this neighborhood's chapter being for stay at home moms or wives, Ziva looked around at the décor of the living room. She had been greeted slightly lackluster by the matronly woman who ran the chapter, and now was in a living room with six other women, surrounded by paraphernalia from the different wars.

She noticed pictures of a Marine, presumably at Desert Storm, on the mantelpiece, and a note signed "Brad" and addressed "Mom and Dad". So this woman's son was a veteran?

"As most of you know, I'm Lacie. We have a new member today, Ziva Smith." Ziva looked up from her examination, smiling before she corrected Lacie, who had pronounced the "i" flat, like the "i" in "if".

"Zeevah," she said softly, almost drawing out her name like Tony did to annoy her but not quite.

"Sorry," Lacie apologized, her face not breaking form its huge smile. "I don't speak Arabic, so I don't really pronounce it well. Raised in the South, you know."

"Hebrew," Ziva corrected again. "I am Israeli."

"Oh, sorry! You look-…"

"I know. I have gotten it before." Too often, both in her course of work at NCIS and just on the streets of D.C. Several times it had been while she was with Tony, and he had gotten very angry, and she had been forced to stop Tony from beating up random drunks who yelled at Ziva for the state of America.

Ziva's thoughts were elsewhere as she went through the motions of the support group, her keen senses mostly doing the job for her of examining and profiling the women of the group.

**** Profiles

Lacie Johnson: Patriotic, brunette, late forties to early fifties, in love with the Armed Forces, seemingly slightly prejudiced to the Middle East. Husband and son are deceased, husband was a retired naval officer, and son was a Marine killed in Desert Storm.

Anna Holiday: Slim, late twenties, blonde, incredibly militant. Not married, though her brother is a Marine stationed in Quantico.

Kelsey Steward: Redhead, tall, mid thirties. Widowed, husband was a Marine killed in Iraq.

Beth Hanson: Brunette, early fifties. Retired naval officer, unmarried. Disdainful of the situation in the Middle East and seemingly its people.

Janine Wright: Bleach blonde, early thirties. No connection to military past patriotism to the country, very up to date on the war and its status.

Pearl Carter: Dark brown hair, slightly heavy, late thirties. Husband stationed in Iraq. Mother of two teenage boys, both of whom want to join the Armed Forces.

****

Once the meeting was over and the group decided to meet again on the same time next week, Ziva shook hands with the members and began her walk home. Just as she rounded the corner for her own street, she heard two voices speaking angrily some distance behind her, and she ducked behind some bushes to listen in.

Ziva recognized the voices of Pearl Carter and Beth Hanson. "… dare she come. It's her people responsible for the situation, responsible for my husband risking his life every damn day," Pearl was saying.

"I agree. It seems wrong to let one of _them_ in with us," Beth voiced. "What can we do, though? If we kick her out she can sue for discrimination, I talked to Janine."

"Right, the lawyer. It's good to have one a part of us sometimes." Pearl sighed heavily, and the footsteps stopped right by the bushes Ziva had concealed herself in.

"Well, I'll be off." Through the leaves Ziva saw Beth turning to head right across the street, to enter the house on the opposite corner from Ziva's hiding spot. Ziva made a mental note of the house number as Pearl turned right, heading towards the front of the neighborhood.

Once Pearl and Beth were out of sight, Ziva came out, hurrying to the left. As soon as she was inside the house she hurried to the computer in the corner of the living room, typing up and emailing her report to Abby and McGee, then deleting the record from her hard drive as Abby had shown her to.

Finally, things were starting to heat up… _I might have to keep Tony from beating up a middle aged house wife,_ Ziva mused thoughtfully, laughing to herself. Beth Hanson might give Tony a run for his money, though…

Once the clock rounded at about four thirty, Ziva began preparing the lasagna for dinner, setting the water to boil. Ziva let herself slip into the familiar, comfortable routine of cooking, trying not to think about the day. Instead, she planned for the next day.

She would go downtown; the groceries, scant to begin with, were now running very low. She could also rub elbows with others in town that way; and, as Tony got off a little early tomorrow, maybe they could go to dinner at the Italian place again. Or maybe they could go to one of the other small restaurants she had seen; there was an Indian restaurant, perhaps Tony would go there?

Ziva was so absorbed with the food and planning she did not notice when Tony came in, at around seven. The lasagna was just about done; she had just put it back in the oven to brown the cheese a bit more when Tony grabbed her around the waist and spun her in a circle.

"What was that?" Ziva gasped, barely having controlled her Mossad instinct to take Tony out after she realized it was him.

"A… good thing for most husbands to do after they get home from work?" Tony replied, watching her carefully.

Ziva peeked in the oven, commenting to Tony, "And how would you know?"

"I watch movies," Tony replied defensively.

Ziva turned back to face Tony, after pulling the lasagna out of the oven and setting it on top of the stove to cool. "I know."

Tony grinned at her sarcastic remark. "I'll go change real quick; I'll be down in a minute."

Ziva rolled her eyes, hiding her own smile from him as he turned away.


	9. Chapter 9

Marine Undercover

**A/N: Ohmigod awkward is the most hilarious word… Oh, and I don't own Mentalist. It's on CBS, too, though; do I get points for advertising the network?**

Chapter 9

Once Tony came down, having changed into a simple polo and pair of blue jeans, he immediately plopped into a seat at the dining room table. Ziva rolled her eyes at his eager expression and smacked a plate full of the lasagna in front of him. "You are incorrigible, Tony."

"I know." He gave her a smile in return and dug in. "Ww, sh is dlshus!"

Ziva waited for his mouth to be clear of food, the smirk on her face telling him he had not been understandable.

"I said, this is delicious," Tony repeated after a minute of chewing. "It must have taken you all day."

"Not so long, just this afternoon," Ziva replied. "I had the military support group this morning, remember?"

"Right. How did that go?" he asked, genuinely curious both as her friend and as her partner on the assignment.

"You would not like it."

"Why wouldn't I like a military support group-?" His face cleared of confusion as he realized. "Oh… want me to talk to them?"

"Tony, that is not necessary. They are simply prejudiced. I cannot change that."

"You can try," Tony muttered, forking some more of the lasagna into his mouth.

Ziva almost laughed at the look on his face, but knew he was serious. "Tony." She put her hand on his wrist and he looked up, pulling the fork out of his mouth. "Really, it is not necessary. I can take care of myself, and we need them to stay the way they are for now."

Tony knew it was true, but grumbled something to himself in a low tone that Ziva could not catch. He smiled gently at her, and took the plates a few minutes later when he was done eating, Ziva having finished already.

"So, how about we go out tomorrow?" Tony called as he put the remaining lasagna into Tupperware. "I get off a bit early; we could head into town, maybe see a movie?"

Ziva smiled at the parallel their thoughts had taken. "That would be nice. I believe you have been wishing to see Final Destination, correct?"

"That would be correct, sweet cheeks." Tony turned and flashed a smile before returning his attention to the pan he was scrubbing. "You know I like to see people killed gruesomely in the most cinematic of manners."

"I know too well, my little-…"

Tony put a finger on her lips, getting her mouth soapy. "You also know I don't really care for that nickname."

Abby _could_ read lips. As far as they knew, she had not heard the name Ziva called Tony yet. Moreover, it was her turn at the cameras, and Ziva knew Tony would get no end of grief for the name.

"I know." Ziva smiled apologetically, keeping her lips closed to keep the soap out.

Tony returned to the sink, and she wiped the dishwater away from her face with a smile. She continued to watch her partner for a few minutes more before sighing, standing up, and walking to the phone.

Her "Marine husband" turned to look at her again. "Zee, who ya calling?"

"Shelby. I am going to set up a party for this weekend, and wanted to know if she was free. I will also get Hadil and Garrett's number, as well as the Handel's."

"None of the women from your military support group?"

Ziva winced, but nodded. "Perhaps Shelby will know how to get a hold of them as well; after all, I am not supposed to have heard what I did."

Tony's green eyes studied her apologetically for a moment before he dried and put up the last dish, moving to rub his hand up her arm comfortingly. He gave a weak half-smile- the incident, even just hearing the little bit Ziva had given him, had shaken him up- and sat down on the couch, grabbing the remote.

Ziva's lips perked as he moved past her, and she quickly dialed the house number Shelby had given her. Shelby picked it up on the third ring. "Hello?" Shelby answered, in a rather peeved tone of voice.

"Shelby? This is Ziva," Ziva replied cautiously, not wishing to awaken any inner beasts in the nice young mother.

"Ziva! Sorry! Some of Katie's friends are over, and their parents were supposed to pick them up four hours ago, and I am so _tired_ of chasing little kids into tomorrow in order to get the TV remote back!"

"Would you like me to help?" Ziva smiled to herself, always looking forward to an opportunity to be around small children. Did that say something about her state of mind? Always looking for children, protecting them, watching them, _loving_ them unconditionally without having even to know them?

"No, that's not necessary, Ziva. I just saw the parents pull into the drive… This is the last time I do any favors for them, though," Shelby added darkly. Ziva laughed softly and gave Shelby time to take care of the parents and children. "Okay, I am yours. You called for a reason, I assume?"

"Yes. Tony and I were thinking of having a party this weekend…"

"All her!" Tony yelled from the couch, loud enough to be audible on the other end of the line. Shelby laughed.

Ziva snorted and continued. "We- I- was wondering if you would be available, and also if you have contact information with some of the other women in the neighborhood."

"Yeah, I do," Shelby replied. "Hadil and Karen, but also a few other girls. Anette Jenkins, whom you haven't met, Janine Wright- she's in the military support, you mentioned joining that? - and a few other moms on my road."

"Do you think I could have some of it? Anyone you think would want to come, and even the people you think might not want to," Ziva rushed, becoming excited in both show and reality.

"Definitely. How about I run up there? I was going to take a walk anyway; I need the exercise and Katie has wanted to try her scooter."

"You have our address?" It amazed Ziva how easily 'our' came to her now, after just a few days undercover with Tony. Tony had apparently been thinking about… _something_... similar, because he turned his head from its position watching a Week in Sports recap to smile at her.

"Yeah. See you in a few minutes!"

"I will see you, Shelby."

Ziva placed the phone back on its hook, and walked over to stand in front of Tony. He met her eyes, raising one eyebrow as she smirked at him. "What are you looking at?"

She smiled wider, straddling Tony. "You," she murmured, rubbing a hand over his broad shoulders. "I think… we should sleep outside tonight. Under the stars. We have a patio," Ziva rushed.

Tony winked. "I would love that." He started to work his hands around the small of her back, and they shared a brief "totally-for-the-case" kiss. Ziva got up, meandering to the door just in time for the doorbell to ring.

She swung it open to reveal Shelby, holding a small notebook, with Katie clutching her mother's hand and dragging a scooter behind her. Ziva smiled broadly. "Shelby, hello."

"Ziva! I brought the contact info. I also called a few of my girlfriends to tell them you might call, just to give them a heads-up."

"Thank you," Ziva beamed. "Would you like to come in? We could watch something, or I could make brownies…" She trailed off, not used to hospitality as a wife.

Shelby laughed at the hopeful look on Ziva's face. "You don't entertain much, do you?"

"No." Ziva smiled, thankful Shelby so understood her. If Shelby did fine at the end of the assignment, maybe Ziva would have to pursue maintaining contact with her.

"In that case, I'll come over a little early Saturday and help you get ready for the party." Shelby smiled, bending over and picking up Katie. "And I don't want to intrude on you now, plus I need to get Katie home. I promised her we could watch an episode or three of Tom and Jerry before she goes to bed."

"That is fine," Ziva replied, smiling down at the cute blonde toddler. "I will see you Saturday, then."

"See you."

Ziva closed the door, turning her head slightly to the side at the look on Tony's face. He was trying not to laugh. "What?"

"You, being hospitable. Usually you just threaten to kill people with a paperclip."

"Only you," she muttered in reply as she took the contact book to the phone and set it down. "I will make the phone calls tomorrow while you are at the base."

Tony grinned broadly, looking at the clock behind her. Ziva followed his gaze to it: it was only ten fifteen. "We have some time," Tony said, looking at Ziva's face again. "Want to watch something?"

Ziva sighed heavily, coming down and sitting next to him on the couch. "Just put something on the TV. I will be going to bed soon, anyway. The stars are calling." She smiled, looking to the glass back door.

Tony put an arm around her without thinking, turning the TV back on and flipping to a show he knew she liked to watch, _The Mentalist_. Ziva smiled, leaning into Tony again. Maybe last night's awkwardness could be just that- awkwardness. Water under the bridge. Gone and not coming back. That would be very helpful.

"You know, it amazes me."

Ziva looked up at Tony. "What amazes you?"

"That this guy can guess so right, so much of the time, and not even try." Tony was very thoughtful about something as he watched the TV.

"I suppose that is why I like him. And Agent Lisbon, she is the only person Jayne cannot truly read." Ziva watched Tony's expression carefully, noticing his agreement with what she had said. Part of it, anyway… But what part? He did not seem to be paying overly close attention to the screen; his thoughts looked elsewhere.

Tony finally sighed and hit 'record' on the DVR so Ziva could watch the rest tomorrow. "I'm going to get ready."

"Wear a shirt tonight. It is cold outside." Ziva smirked, following him upstairs after a moment's hesitation.

Once they had both changed and brushed their teeth, Ziva grabbed two blankets and pillows, one each for her and Tony. Tony flashed a smile, and walked backwards to the stairs on their way out, smirking at the camera.

**** Navy Yard

McGee looked at Abby in worry. "Is this even safe?"

Abby's face was threatening to crack into a massive smile. "Yeah. We have cameras outside. And look! Aren't Tony and Ziva an adorable couple?"

She pulled up the night-vision camera, showing Ziva and Tony sitting on recliner-chairs pushed together, hands casually touching as they looked up. Tim just sighed. "Abby, really?"

"Really what, Timmy?" Abby looked at McGee innocently, feigning no knowledge of why Tim was so frustrated with her.

"Do you have to keep doing this? Tony and Ziva are together for the case, and that's it."

"What am I doing, McGee?" Abby had that puppy dog pretend-you-don't-see-it-try-me look on her face, and Tim was severely tempted to kiss that smug look off her face.

McGee sighed again, turning Abby to him, his hands on her shoulders. "You're trying to justify them as a couple. To me, to Gibbs, to _them_, for goodness' sake! They're not even together for real! Remember that, because _that_," he gestured to the camera feed, "is going to end as soon as we catch whoever is murdering Marines."

Abby pursed her lips, laying her hands over McGee's. "Timmy. Stop being such a pessimist." She folded him into a hug, still watching the screen eagerly and bouncing slightly. McGee just laughed.

**A/N: So, I just thought y'all deserved some McAbby.**


	10. Chapter 10

Marine Undercover

**A/N: Tony's awkwardness is gone because he's getting into being able to show his feelings without really showing them. Plus I'm going to work in a better explanation somewhere; I know the magic vanishing awkwardness was unexplained. Reviewer who asked, you know who you are. Mm, and sorry for delay, Fanfiction was being a butt about letting me upload documents.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own NCIS. But I should be a writer for it; apparently I think the same as the ones on the show, except I write Tiva into my fics.**

Chapter 10

Friday morning. Ooh, it would be a long one. Too long. Ziva woke up late, at about six-thirty, to find Tony already up and making breakfast. He was dressed for the day in his Marine camos, and flashed a huge grin to her when she came inside. "Sleep well?" he called to her retreating back.

Ziva ignored him for the moment, jogging up the stairs and putting away the blankets he had piled on her during the night. When she came back down, still in her pajamas- no use in changing before she took her shower- she sat at the table and cocked her head, watching him cook. "Yes, I slept well, I think. I must have been cold, since I woke up this morning covered in the Mount McKinley of blankets, but I did not notice."

"Everest."

"What?" Baffled, Ziva raised an eyebrow as he turned to face her.

"Usually when people make references to large things they use Mount Everest." Tony set a plate piled with pancakes and turkey bacon in front of her. He sat down next to her, tearing into his own food. "And you're welcome. You were shivering pretty badly when I woke up at three this morning because of someone snoring."

Ziva smiled sarcastically. "Eat your breakfast, my little hairy butt."

Tony narrowed his green eyes dangerously. "You'll pay, Ziva Smith. You'll pay."

"Have a nice day at work," she smirked in return, pressing her lips lightly to his before putting her plate in the sink and heading back upstairs to take her shower. She could feel Tony's eyes on her back for a few moments more before she was out of sight; a moment later, she heard the front door closing and a car taking off.

Twenty minutes later, Ziva was ready for the day. She walked down the stairs slowly, ignoring the dishes in the sink and heading for the phone. Even if the women would be working, many of them would not have work for another couple hours, so calling at seven thirty would be fine. She flipped open the contact book Shelby had left, tracing the names and numbers until she reached a note from Shelby in the back.

_Ziva,_

_Anette Jenkins is a stay at home mom. Her kids get dropped off at seven thirty for school, so call her at about eight. Elizabeth Gordon has a nine to five job which she leaves for at eight, so I'd call her before then. She's grumpy in the evenings. Charlotte Simpers is a babysitter, you can call her at any time before ten. Lacie Johnson and Beth Hanson are retired, they spend most of their time at the local malls, but if you call at about eight they should be home still. Pearl Carter, stay at home mom. Call her at eight, too. Kelsey Steward and Anna Holiday have part time afternoon jobs; call them in the mornings, too. Janine Wright works from home, call her whenever._

_Have a nice day,_

_Shelby :)_

Ziva laughed at the note and the smiley face Shelby drew on the bottom of the note. Somehow, despite her surprise at finding it, Ziva had not been startled at the contents. It was very like Shelby, to include a helpful guide like this alongside her humorous takes on the neighbors.

Quickly she called Elizabeth, then Kelsey, then Anna, then Anette, then Pearl Hanson. After a brief, cold conversation with Pearl that ended in a terse truce, Ziva called Lacie, then Beth, then Charlotte, then Janine.

The Israeli sighed, throwing down the cordless phone once forcing acceptations out of each of the women. She flopped onto the couch, drifting into a light, dreamless sleep, letting the light playing across the ceiling lull her into sleep. About forty five minutes later, when Ziva woke at 11.15, she reluctantly rolled off the couch and onto her feet. She would need to clean the kitchen and walk up to the park… Ziva would have liked to go grocery shopping, but NCIS had only allowed one car so she would have to wait until tomorrow before the party, to go with Tony. In any case, going up to the park would be nice.

Ziva scrubbed the pots, pans and plates in the sink, rinsed them, and dried them, putting them back into their respective places in the cupboards. She smiled slightly when she opened the cupboard to put up the plates, placing them on the shelf and pulling off the sticky note on the door.

_Ziva,_

_Knew you wouldn't resist cleaning up! Don't you ever take a day and just chill?_

_I'll be home later than planned; Bob told me Dad wants to catch up._

_xoxo,_

_Tony._

What on earth did "xoxo" mean? In any case, this might mean Ziva needed to cook tonight. _Let's see,_ she thought. _Tony gets off at seven regularly, and is home about seven thirty. He gets off at six tonight, so seven he will be home? Maybe earlier or later? We would still have time for dinner and a movie so we could be home before midnight…_

Even though Tony took forever to eat dinner when he went out…

Vaguely Ziva worried about what would happen when Tony was stuck in a stopped elevator with Gibbs again- since that was undoubtedly what Gibbs would do, though maybe not since they could not meet at the Navy Yard. She knew in her mind that if Gibbs saw enough, and McGee was tattlebutt-y enough, then Gibbs would be concerned about his rule twelve.

Ziva zoned as she thought of Abby and McGee, and their relationship versus the one she had with Tony. Working on autopilot, she continued to do some basic cleaning in the house and make herself a quick lunch. "Mmm," she murmured hazily to herself as she pulled the delicious-smelling Hot Pocket out of the microwave a few minutes later. Philly Cheesesteak, of course, because Tony had made sure those were part of the load of food NCIS delivered the day they moved in.

_Rap! Rap! Rap!_ The knocking sound startled Ziva; she jumped around, hand subconsciously moving to grab a gun that was not at her side. Her eyes darted around quickly, and she calmed a tiny bit when she saw Karen Handel and Kelly Anderson waving from the back door.

Smiling her best friendly smile, the one Tony said anyone who knew her knew was fake but most people believed was real, Ziva moved to the door, unlocking it and letting them inside. "Hello, Karen. Kelly."

"Ziva, girl! It's been a while since we chatted!" Kelly gustily hugged Ziva, much to the assassin's surprise and discomfort.

"I meant to call you both this morning, it must have slipped my mind." Karen smiled graciously as Ziva finished. "I am hosting a party tomorrow, would you like to come?"

Kelly beamed and Karen smiled. "We'd love to! Is it a potluck? When should we come over?" Karen asked eagerly.

Ziva laughed, shaking her head at the eager questioning. "Tomorrow is the Shabbat, so I will be cooking everything. If you come at around seven, that is when the other guests I invited should be coming."

"Oh, right, because you're Jewish…" Karen nodded wisely. "I can't wait to see what you cook up," she added genuinely, at least as far as Ziva could tell.

"Yes. So, why did you two decide to visit?" Ziva asked. "Not that I mind, of course."

Kelly beamed again. "We and some of the girls are going in to town to do some shopping. If you want to join, that's great. We would love it!"

"I would not want to intrude. I do not have a car, either," Ziva pointed out. "Tony and I share the Mustang."

"Mustang…" Karen breathed longingly. "And really it's no big deal. You can ride with Kelly and me; I have to get a ride with her anyway since Tom has our car."

Ziva nodded. "I shall ride with you… I can manage that, as long as we return by about six thirty. I need some extra time to prepare for tonight, because Tony and I are going out."

Karen and Kelly looked at each other with matching covetous looks, grinning slyly. "Ooh la lah," Kelly chuckled suggestively.

"If Tom were as hot a husband as your Tony, I don't think either of us would ever leave the house," Karen chortled.

Ziva could feel herself turning a bright crimson under the teasingly jealous looks of the other women. "I believe we should be going now?" Embarrassed, Ziva hastily made her way to the counter, where she grabbed her keys and purse off the hook Tony had put on the wall for her earlier in the week.

****

Ziva tailed at the end of the group, composed of several housewives in the neighborhood- many of whom Shelby had included on her list, and so Ziva had called them. The women- most of them- seemed very excited to meet the exotic Israeli that Karen and Kelly had told them about. Lacie had, of course, not seemed so thrilled, but the other women, Anette especially, had been elated.

Anette glanced around, spotting Ziva at the back of the group as they stepped into J.C. Penney's. Anette dropped back to chat. "I've never understood the appeal of J.C. Penney's," she confided in a low tone.

"Tony has tried to get me to come in before in the years I have lived here. I do not particularly care for stores like this, especially the perfume section." Ziva smiled at the other woman, a plump little blonde who barely came up to Tony's elbow.

Anette and Ziva pushed past the rest of the group to look at some day dresses the others had dismissed as 'too cutesy'. "Ziva, don't worry about anything you hear while you're in the neighborhood. Especially about the Marines and the Middle East."

Ziva looked up from where she held a brown patterned dress up to her body, one she knew would get shark whistles if she ever wore it to the Navy Yard. "I do not let things like that get to me."

"I figured; being a country like this, you can't. I was just saying… Most of the women in here are very patriotic, and they think the best way to show it is by being royal bitches to anyone from the Middle East, male or female. You and other wives like you especially irk them, because they think the husbands were unpatriotic to even _think_ about liking you, much less marrying you and making you citizens of the States by default." Anette paused from her speech, looking at Ziva carefully to gauge her response.

Slightly distressed, the Mossad liaison kept her face its careful mask. She placed the dress back on the rack carefully, and turned to face Anette. "I really will be all right, Anette."

A slight smile perked Anette's pink lips. "I wish I could believe that, honey. Talk to me when you need some girl time." Glancing at the other women, who were ogling one of the salesmen, Anette looked back at Ziva with a larger smile and grabbed the brown dress back. "Take this, honey. You'll look absolutely darling in it. There's nothing like a tiny little dress to make your man happy."

Ziva laughed aloud. Anette was a real character, but friendly. "Thank you, Anette. This means a lot to me."

"Glad to hear that, doll. So, shall we get back to the party?" Anette raised an eyebrow in the direction of the horny middle-aged women.

Still holding back laughter, Ziva nodded, and the two hugely grinning women made their way back to the others for another three excruciating hours of shopping with, as Anette termed them, the "Squat Squad".

****

Residual giggles caused Ziva to smile slightly even still, remembering all the cracks Anette had made during the excursion as well as the stories she had told about her two sons, both in high school. She hummed slightly to herself, some Bach, as she prepared for the evening Tony had planned for them.

Ziva finished blow-drying her hair, leaving it curly, and began getting dressed. Pulling the brown dress on over her head, she looked at her figure in the mirror. If she did say so herself, she looked all right in the dress. It had a brown diagonally striped pattern and cut low on her chest, but not too low, and the thin spaghetti straps left her shoulders bare. The dress came to just above her knees, and Ziva complemented it with a pair of high strappy wedges.

"What's the occasion?"

Ziva twirled around at the sound of Tony's laughing voice. "We are going out tonight, remember?" With her trademark elevator eyes, Ziva took in Tony's own attire. He'd stripped his fatigues so they hung around his waist, and the white tank top was sweat soaked. Tony had obviously been working hard today. "You will need to get ready fast."

Smirking, Tony took in her appearance as well, from her muscular calves to her shoulder length curls. "I will, sweetcheeks." Tony pushed past her into the bathroom, an expression of appreciation on his face as he looked down at her.

Ziva raised an eyebrow teasingly before Tony closed the door. She turned away, sitting on the bed, a huge smile on her face.

Twenty minutes later, Tony appeared from the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist. He grinned at the expression on Ziva's face before heading into the walk in closet. "Three seconds, sweetcheeks."

Mostly true to his word, Tony reappeared barely a minute later. He twirled around, showing off his classic grey suit. "Acceptable?"

"Certainly." Ziva stepped closer, looking up as their bodies brushed. "Are you ready to go, now? I have been waiting for some time."

"It didn't take me _that_ long to get showered and dressed," Tony objected.

"Come on." Ziva twirled around, taking a dancer's step to the door. Tony followed quickly behind, a huge smile on his face. When they got outside, Ziva noticed Tony immediately turn to the camera above the door and deliver a thumbs-up.

"Take that, McProbius," he mouthed.

****

Ziva twisted the wedding ring she and Tony had picked out for the assignment around on her finger. The sparkling solitaire winked in the light, and a ghost of a smile lit her face. Gently, a hand moved up her arm, and she looked up at Tony across the table from her. "Penny for your thoughts?" he asked.

She knew that one; Tony had asked that enough. "We make a good pair." Ziva watched him carefully, her brown eyes meeting his green. Tony suddenly looked very nervous, not quite fully meeting her eyes.

"Yeah," he replied softly.

"Aww!" The gasp, one of several they heard from the com pieces throughout the night, made both of them roll their eyes, but they said nothing about it since they were in public. Abby was beginning to drive them crazy, and they could tell it was Tim, as well.

"Abby, let them have their date in peace," McGee hissed.

"I am!"

Pushing the bickering out of her head, Ziva looked back up at Tony. "Shall we get dessert?" she asked cautiously. It was somewhat of a good thing right now, for Abby to be monitoring surveillance, since that distracted both of them from having any awkward moments.

"I was thinking we can get some candies on the way to the theater." Tony flashed a smile to her, confusion behind him.

Ziva returned his smile and waved to the waiter, asking for the check. The waiter nodded. "Certainly, signora."

Ziva looked again at Tony. "You sure know how to pick restaurants. I cannot believe you convinced me to come to _another_ Italian restaurant."

Tony chuckled, low and huskily. "You don't object too many things Italian." His voice was dripping with suggestion, and the old man in the booth behind them turned to stare at Tony. Tony smiled innocently at the man, who gave them both an odd look before returning to his meal.

Laughing slightly, Tony took the check from the returning waiter, paying along with a generous tip. "Company cards are good for some things," Tony whispered at the look on Ziva's face. It was a twenty percent tip, which amounted to a good bit of money. It was an expensive restaurant.

Once the waiter returned their credit card, they left the restaurant, arms linked. Tony smiled and kissed her again outside the car, passionately, enough so that when he looked up several of the waiters and diners were staring. Ziva pressed into the kiss, letting her lips linger on his before he kissed down her neck quickly. Ziva drew in her breath as he stepped away, green eyes meeting hers nervously.

She simply smiled, pressing her lips again to his gently before sliding into the Mustang. A huge grin on his face, Tony ran around the side of the car to hop into the driver's seat.

"What happened?" Abby begged. "I know something happened, I heard it in your gasp, Ziva!" They heard Abby draw in her breath. "You kissed. AWWW!"

"ABBY!" Tim yelled. Ziva laughed, as did Tony. This was a good night already.


	11. Chapter 11

Marine Undercover

**A/N: Ze Movie. I haven't seen it. So don't ask if it was any good. I just know it's playing right now, and I know what was given to me as a summary on the website that says what's playing. Oh, and I am getting better at writing a lot about nothing at all. It's good for making this my first lengthy fic. Oh, and who saw Good Cop, Bad Cop last night? Amazing, right?**

Chapter 11

Fingers intertwined, Tony stepped up to the box office. "Hey, I would like two tickets for the nine-twelve showing of Whip It?"

Ziva looked at Tony in brief confusion as he paid for the tickets, flashing a brief smile to the woman behind the ticket counter. He pulled Ziva into the theater, making his way to the room their movie was playing. Ziva put a hand on his chest, stopping him. "Tony, I thought you wanted to watch Final Destination. Whip It is a so-called 'chick flick'."

"Final Destination isn't a very good date movie, now, is it?" Tony gave his best aren't-I-charming smile, and Ziva could not help but giggle at the look on his face. "Come on," he murmured, taking her hand on his and pulling her to the concessions.

Once the popcorn and large Coke was purchased, Tony and Ziva stepped into the theater room in full Smith mode, as touchy-feely and cute as they could be. Abby constantly oohed and aahed and awwed as the movie went on, from the little whispered comments about the movie as well as threats from Ziva made to look like whispered nothings in a lover's ear. By the conclusion of the movie Ziva had relaxed, Tony's suit jacket wrapped around her in the cold of the theater as she leaned into his shoulder. Tony looked down as the credits began; grinning slightly at her head nestled into his body.

"Hey, sweet cheeks. Time to wake up." Tony gently pushed her up, and Ziva opened her eyes.

"That was a boring movie," she mumbled, standing up.

"Aw, don't lie. You liked it."

"I fell asleep, Tony!"

He flashed her a grin. "You liked the beginning."

"Some of it. I understood her feelings."

Tony stood up as well, snugging the jacket more securely over her shoulders as they made their way back to the Mustang. "Your mom wanted you to do beauty pageants?"

"No, I wanted to do beauty pageants. Dance recitals my father let me do, piano he let me do, but after I was ten my life was purely training." Ziva looked up, laughing slightly at the look on Tony's face.

Tony smiled, saying defensively, "I just can't really see you as a pageant girl."

"Really? Maybe you can see that tonight," she murmured suggestively as a couple she recognized from the neighborhood walked past them.

"That I would like to see," he whispered back.

"I wouldn't," snapped a voice in their com pieces.

Tony and Ziva, stepping into the car, froze. Eyes wide, they slowly sat down, listening as Gibbs continued his mini speech. "Don't forget, I can see everything you do."

"Except what we do in the bedroom," Tony quipped once they were safely on the road.

"Don't try me, DiNozzo. Forgotten what I told you so soon?" Gibbs sounded particularly peeved… His coffee cup must have been low.

Gulping slightly, Tony replied, "No, Boss."

Ziva's eyes flicked to Tony. What had Gibbs told Tony involving the bedroom, or any room, or the case at all? Tony had not had a real chance to tell her, and now Ziva was extra curious. Tonight, then, if he would tell her.

Jaw clenched slightly, Tony gave Ziva a weak smile, rolling his eyes at Gibbs. She returned the smile faintly, her eyes still searching his face.

****

Once home and upstairs, Ziva turned to Tony. "So what did Dad tell you?" she asked carefully, staying in character. There was no evidence of there ever being surveillance on the other victims' houses, but McGee wanted Tony and Ziva to be in character as long as they were in the house, just in case.

Tony took a tentative step forward to Ziva, looking down at her. "He said that I need to watch it and I need to remember how to count. He warned me I have almost broken a few rules this week." The intensity in his voice and the steady tone surprised Ziva. "I told him that I have my own set of rules and don't need his."

Ziva raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

"No." The quickness to Ziva sounded like a drop out; Tony suddenly seemed very nervous, and he turned away to begin getting ready for bed. Little did she know that Tony was silently cursing himself for his cowardice… Why could he not just tell her, already?

Silence followed as they both prepped for the night.

****

The pair conversed in low tones, sitting under an oak tree some hundred feet from the little green house in which resided their two targets.

"We should take them out as soon as possible."

"No. It is too early. Remember our pattern? We wait three months between kills, no more and no less." The voice was exasperated; obviously, they had already had this discussion.

"I remember! But look at these two… He is flaunting their affection, and she is waving her heritage over us like some flag that makes her special. Every time they kiss I shudder inside," hissed the second voice.

"I know. Just wait. It will come… There is no use in killing Deveraux with these two here, I will give you that."

"Look at them!" Tony and Ziva were at the open window now, his hands rubbing her arms as she smiled up at him.

"I see…" Then: "I have to go. Tomorrow, same time?"

"Tomorrow."

****

"Jennifer Aniston."

"What?"

Early morning light flooded the room, illuminating Tony and Ziva lying side by side, arms over the covers, staring absentmindedly at the ceiling. Tony glanced over at the Israeli next to him before returning his gaze up. "You remind me of Jennifer Aniston right now."

"How so?" Ziva could not keep the smile out of her voice.

"Well, beside from your both being beautiful, her role as Rachel in Friends."

"Tony, you have lost me again. How does that remind you of me?"

"Savvy, probably the smartest one in the bunch. She makes a mistake with Ross, but she keeps coming back to him, even after all the dumb stuff he does." Images ran through Tony's head of all the things he had done, and how after each one Ziva forgave him.

"If I am Rachel, then you are Ross."

"Yeah."

"That makes you a half witted paleontologist. You do not like bones, or history, or academia in general."

Tony grinned at the ceiling. "That's why I'm in the Corp."

"And you have today off, so get up! You need to go shopping and I need to clean up before tonight, so I can spend this afternoon cooking." Ziva sat up, and she noticed Tony examining her messy ponytail and tank top.

Tony sat up as well. "Don't you ever rest, woman?" he grumbled as he half climbed, half rolled out of the bed.

"I am supposed to today. But I will not; I have too much to accomplish." Smiling slightly, Ziva walked downstairs as Tony took a brief shower. When he followed her suit and walked into the main house, the smell of quiche was already filling the air.

Leaning on the median between the dining room and kitchen, Tony watched her working for a minute before speaking. "You know, I can do that perfectly fine."

"There are eggshells in it when you make it."

"I meant the cooking in general, and the cleaning. You do everything, Zee."

At that she turned around, brandishing a spatula dangerously. "Tony, you do enough."

"Like what?" he quipped, half seriously and half jokingly.

"You serve in the military. That is enough for me." Ziva returned to the quiche, which was cooking quickly.

Tony grinned. "It certainly is," he commented when she brought the quiche over to the dining room table. "Smells delicious, sweet cheeks."

"It had better _taste_ delicious," she replied, eating hers leaning against the median.

"Trust me, it doesn't do you justice." Tony winked at her, mentally wincing at the head slap he would get for that later. Ziva flashed him a smile in return before grabbing his barely finished plate and taking both of their plates to the sink.

Ziva turned back to him as she rinsed the dishes, raising an eyebrow.

"All right, I get it! I'm leaving! I will return with food!"

"Make sure it is kosher!' she called after him as he headed for the door. Tony gave a thumbs-up, acknowledging her request, and the door closed with a gentle slam.

The next several hours passed quickly, Ziva cleaning, Tony returning with armfuls of food and refusing to let her help carry them inside, Tony then helping Ziva as she cooked a vegetarian meal for the party which he complained about at every chance, finally culminating in Ziva and Tony flopping down, exhausted, on the couch. Almost immediately after, Ziva saw the time was nearly five. Shelby had promised to be over by five fifteen, so the Israeli made to sit up again.

Tony caught her around the waist and pulled her back down so she was lying partially on his chest. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked teasingly.

Ziva craned her head around so she could see his face. "I am going to change for the party. It is almost time for Shelby to get here and I do not want to be wearing my cleaning clothes until just a few minutes ahead of time."

A half smile lit his face as his green eyes studied hers. "I like you in my t-shirts."

"I know." Ziva flashed her most seductive smile as his fingers played at the hem of her shirt.

"You look cute in blue jeans." His fingers tugged ever so slightly on the waistband of her jeans, his eyes never leaving hers.

"I know," she breathed, loving the feeling of his fingers on her skin but trying not to show it past what one would think obvious, for the case.

"Your ponytails are perfect." His breath tickled her scalp as his lips moved through her hair.

"I know." Ziva closed her eyes, enjoying the attention she would never get if this was not for the mission.

"So why would you ever change?" he murmured into her neck, sending goose bumps up her spine.

Unable to take it anymore, Ziva sat up from Tony's lap, caressing his arm as she moved upstairs. "I will be down in a minute."

Tony watched her walk up the stairs before moving to the computer where he knew an email would be waiting. Sure enough, the computer dinged just as he got to it.

_Tony,_

_What the heck was that? I didn't think you would take what I said seriously! Gibbs is going to KILL you!_

_McGee._

Even in an email the Probie could not swear… Tony laughed a bit at that and formulated a reply.

_McGee,_

_Relax. Have Abby give you a massage or something. You know that I can't keep going on letting her think I don't think of her as anything more than my partner, because I do. So there._

_Frustrated,_

_Tony._

He pressed SEND, watching the email flit into cyberspace then wiping both emails from the hard drive. It would not be good to have either Ziva or one of their neighbors to find those on the computer…

He sighed, remembering the brief conversation he had had when McGee called him the other day at the base.

**** Flashback

"Tony!"

"Yeah, McGee," Tony yawned.

"I have got to talk to you."

"Why?"

"Uh, Abby wanted to, but I told her I would."

"Lay it on me, Probie."

McGee gulped audibly. "So, in her words- not mine- Tony, you had better let Ziva know how you feel before things get awkward and you blow any chance you have with her. And, uh, I wanted to add that if you keep acting weird like you have been then you might blow the case, so relax and go back to the way you were with her, before the case. And if that means… talking… behind closed doors, I'll make sure Gibbs doesn't know."

"No, I don't know," Tony remarked tersely, his brain a few seconds behind after the rigorous day at base.

"Just… yeah. Think about it. Be yourself again."

"Will do," Tony replied, hanging up.

**** Flashforward

So he had been, and had tried to enjoy the case as much as work it. Tony actually had taken advantage of it, such as a few minutes ago when McGee flipped out on the other end of the cameras. He could tell Ziva liked it, too, from the way her breath caught in her throat and the way she prolonged their little kisses. Tony just did not know if it was feelings for him or enjoyment of having a man flatter her every day.

His ears "perked" at the sound of the doorbell's chimes, and Tony took a jaunty walk to the door. Swinging it open, Tony gestured for Shelby to step inside. "Where's Katie?"

"Babysitter. Ziva?"

"Upstairs. She'll be down in a minute." Tony grinned. "I told her she looked fine, but she insisted on changing before you showed up." Both turned around at the sound of Ziva coming down the stairs. "And it is a good thing she did," he breathed.

Ziva smirked at the flash of want in Tony's eyes as she descended the steps. She was wearing a skirt and halter top, the skirt a dark brown A-line similar to the one she had worn on the first day and the top an olive green that went with her skin well. It cut low enough in the back to reveal a fair amount of skin, and she knew Tony would be drooling later. "Like, my darling?"

"You could say that, sweet cheeks." Tony rolled his lips, then looked between Shelby and Ziva. "I'll leave you two to it, then. I need to change, too. Don't want Ziva showing me up as best dressed."


	12. Chapter 12

Marine Undercover

**A/N: Incredibly sorry for my lateness due to writer's block. And so you know, I'm about as bad an entertainer as Ziva, so forgive any awkwardness in the writing. Oh, and again, I neither serve nor am in NCIS nor am even out of high school yet, so I am wonderfully naïve to all things of romantic nature. Go figure.**

**Disclaimer: DON'T OWN **_**CASTLE**_**. But, it is wonderful. Go watch it.**

Chapter 12

Tony stepped downstairs, twirling briefly to allow Ziva to admire his khakis and polo. A mysteriously straight look plastered across his face, he asked, "Do these slacks make my butt look big?"

Ziva snorted, mostly at the way he had asked. "No, they do not, Tony." Turning to the young woman beside her she asked, "What is your opinion?"

"I think that your husband is much better than my ex no matter what way you look at it," Shelby remarked with a smile. "I still can't exactly believe I dated the man. Not my best choice in guys, to say the least."

"He cannot be too bad. You gained Katie out of your tryst with him," Ziva pointed out lightly.

"Best thing the man ever did for me. So, what's your game plan for tonight?" Shelby asked, changing the subject quickly.

Brow furrowed, Ziva inquired, "Game plan? I did not know one was necessary for a party."

"Oh, always. You didn't expect to just leave your guests in the lurch to entertain themselves, did you?" Shelby stared at Ziva quizzically, an expression of mock horror on her face.

"Well…" Ziva fumbled for words. She was still new to entertaining; Abby usually kept the team amused with games and such, even if someone else was the host of a gathering.

"Truth or dare," Tony suggested.

"Two truths and a lie!" Shelby exclaimed. "Wonderful game."

Tony smirked. "Twister."

"Always a fun game with a group of… um… roughly fifteen people, depending on if Anette's husband can get off work," Shelby mused. "Many being single women who have the hots for Tony."

Ziva and Tony simultaneously turned shades of red, Ziva remembering Karen and Kelly's comments and Tony just having the good grace to be embarrassed.

Shelby looked between them, sighting on Ziva finally. "Later you are going to have to tell me what happened when you went shopping with the Squat Squad. So, you have the games, but what about your plan? Like, when are things going to happen?"

Musing, Ziva counted on her fingers, mentally tallying hours. "Dinner starts seven fifteen, in order to allow everyone a chance to show up. Finished by around eight primarily, though we could play the truth and lie game first so everyone has a chance to finish. Then perhaps Twister or Truth or Dare, and try to finish by ten or eleven."

"Sounds wonderful," Shelby analyzed. "You may find it lasts until the early hours of the morning, though, especially if you supply alcohol."

"Wine only, and sparingly." Ziva's eyes flitted over to Tony, silently conveying that neither of them should drink. Tony nodded minutely, in agreement. He had not planned to. Tony had enough on his plate without alcohol thrown in.

Tony glanced over at the clock: it was almost 19.00 already. 18.42, to be exact. "Showtime," he called, seeing a plump woman coming up, followed by two men.

"Anette and her neighbors," Shelby remarked. "She loves them like sons, almost more than hers since her boys are in their rebellious stage. Probably brought them along because they never get invited anywhere."

Brief gentle touches were exchanged between the two men, and Tony nodded knowingly when he noticed. "Don't ask, don't tell rule?"

"Actually, Walt is in the Navy. So yeah, he knows that rule very well." Shelby sighed slightly. "But they are both really sweet guys."

Ziva opened the door before Anette even extended her hand to ring the doorbell. "Erev tov, Anette. Who are your friends?"

Anette beamed. "Hebrew is so pretty. These are my neighbors, Walt and Reg Hickman. I hope you don't mind, it's just that no one thinks to invite them," she added pleadingly.

"I would have, but I did not have their contact information," Ziva assured. Teasingly the Mossad operative glared at Shelby, who raised her hands in self-defense.

"Hey, I would have given the numbers to you if Anette would ever remember to give them to me!"

Realizing she had forgotten the new guests, Ziva extended a hand to the larger of the two men then the shorter, shaking both their hands. "Ziva Smith. This is my husband, Tony," she said, gesturing to Tony, who waved before walking over and shaking the couple's hands as well.

"Reg," the shorter man answered. "And my partner Walt. He's in the good ole Navy," Reg added proudly.

Walt laughed. "I hear Tony is a Marine. That's more impressive."

"Seals kick my butt," Tony responded, grinning.

"Of course," Walt ceded.

Tony and Walt soon got into a deep discussion about the Navy and Marine Corp, leaving Ziva to chat with Shelby and Anette as they watched the door eagerly. Over the next few minutes the remainder of the guests showed up- not all, Ziva noted, as she got a phone call from Pearl saying her oldest had caught the flu and Elizabeth had been pulled into the night shift on emergency. Charlotte was babysitting for her sister who was sick, so she did not come as well. The group was still a large one, consisting of several people: Ziva, Tony, Shelby, Anette, Walt, Reg, Tom, Karen, Kelly, Janine, Lacie, Beth, Anna, and Kelsey. Fourteen people.

Glancing around the crowded living room, Ziva whistled to draw attention. The group looked around at her. "We will be moving outside for dinner," she said awkwardly.

Tony came to her socially awkward rescue. "Hey, run outside everybody! My lovely wife and I will be joining you shortly with vittles for your enjoyment! She's an awesome chef," he added, circling an arm lovingly around her waist while dragging her into the kitchen.

"Thank you," she murmured.

"Let me guess. Abby did most of the talking when you guys had dinner," he whispered with a grin.

"Yes." Ziva grabbed the tray of matzoth lasagna and the potato casserole, and Tony grabbed the latkes and falafel and the challah.

"Ziva, I still can't believe you managed to cook all of this today," he grinned as they set down the dishes outside.

"I did not. I cooked some of it yesterday," she pointed out. "Burrow in," she called to the group. "There is plenty for everyone."

"Dig in," Tony corrected, earning a few laughs from the group. Tony himself heaped a plate with potato casserole and challah, braided egg bread, his favorite of the kosher dishes Ziva cooked regularly.

Ziva placed a bit of the lasagna as well as a couple latkes on her plate and sat next to Tony on the grass. The rest of the group joined them shortly, most digging in appreciatively but a couple poking curiously at the food. "What is this?" Lacie asked, cutting apart a falafel to examine it.

"Falafel," Tony replied around a full mouth. He swallowed and added, "Chickpeas. You can put it in a pita and add all kinds of stuff. Have you ever had a gyro?"

"Yes," Lacie replied cautiously.

"Same idea, just with veggies and not meat. Well, I don't know. Are chickpeas a fruit or a vegetable?" Tony asked, turning to Ziva.

"I am not sure," she answered honestly.

"Whichever they are, they are delicious," Anette commented. "You did a wonderful job, darling." Ziva turned a faint shade of red as Tony gave her a curious look, obviously interested to if there was a story behind her new nickname.

Kelsey threw part of a latke into the air and caught it in her mouth. "Mmm…" she moaned. "Joseph used to send me these all the time when he was in Israel. He got transferred to Iraq, and they kept coming. I don't know how he did it," she added, glancing lovingly at her wedding ring she still wore.

Ziva remembered she was a widow, and smiled sympathetically. "I am sure he was a great man."

"Yeah, he was…" she sighed softly. "Anyway, enough of the past. What countries have you been to, Tony?"

"U.S., Iraq, Palestine, Israel," Tony answered, not needing to change the truth much. He'd been to Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Cuba, but those were neither here nor there for the case. Besides, Gibbs had gone to Mexico more than Tony.

The rest of the hour passed quickly, in "good food and good company", as Garrett Deveraux loudly proclaimed over his second glass of wine, which Hadil had quickly snatched from him.

"He gets drunk easily," she apologized.

"It's fine," Tony laughed. "Twister will be more fun that way."

"Oh, Twister!" exclaimed Kelly. "Are we playing that now?"

"Later, first we're going to play Two Truths and a Lie so everyone can finish eating." Tony grinned around the group. "So, everyone know the rules?"

There were nods of assent from the group. "Ziva goes first," Walt called from where he sat towards the back of the group arranged in a clump on the grass, everyone having foregone chairs. Ziva looked up in surprise, her fingers still putting a chunk of challah bread into her mouth.

Tony grinned at her expression and elbowed her ribcage. "Yeah, Zee, you should go first. Come on, it'll be fun."

Sighing, Ziva chewed her bread and spoke. "Alright. I shall go first." She thought for a moment before speaking. "I have two siblings. My brother is an American Marine. I am… _very_… happy in this country." Ziva flashed a warm smile at Tony.

Shelby cracked a huge smile. "You guys are too cute. I'm going to have to say the siblings, because I know the other two are true, and I'm also going to have to call easy on you!"

"Easy?" Ziva asked, glancing in confusion to Tony.

Laughing, Tony explained. "Easy, as in your truths and lies were too simple, anyone who knew you or most who don't could figure them out."

"Oh. Would you like me to redo my truths and lie, then?" Ziva asked. She'd felt it was appropriate to use the ones she had, as actually only one of them _was_ a lie. When Shelby nodded avidly, Ziva pondered a moment. "I used to be a ballerina. My favorite food is Philly Cheese steak. I have not had a decent date in five years." She glanced at Tony gauging his reaction to the three truths she had told, though one of them for this game would be a lie.

Hadil laughed at the dramatically hurt look on Tony's face at Ziva's last comment. "I will guess the last is a lie."

"But she's Jewish, and isn't there a law about meat and dairy?" Karen pointed out.

"She said she wasn't really much of a practicing Jew," Kelly protested. "I think it's the last, too."

Most of the group seemed to agree, and Ziva laughed as she nodded. "I have had several decent dates recently." Tony smiled as she pecked his lips, and then they pointed in unison at Shelby. "Your turn!" Ziva said.

"Oh, gosh! My daughter's favorite food is green eggs and ham, I love to watch _Castle_, and my bedtime is at ten thirty." Shelby grinned as she looked around the assembled people. "Betcha can't guess."

Tony made a "hmm" face as he thought. "Well, I would guess it's your bedtime, because _Castle_ comes on at ten o'clock."

"She's got a DVR," Lacie said, beginning to get into the party, though her glances towards Ziva still seemed aloof. "I am going to guess it's Katie's favorite food."

"I will too, since you make macaroni and cheese every single time my boy babysits for you," Anette vocalized.

Shelby giggled as lots more answers came in, some really out there such as Ziva's, "But eggs are not green!" to which Tony had whispered in her ear and she made an "oh" face.

Finally giving in to admitting, she laughed, "My bedtime is actually ten. I use the DVR to watch _Castle_ when Katie's at school or with a friend, since she can't watch it. And I'm not the one who makes the macaroni, it's your son," Shelby informed Anette with a barely straight face.

"Now you go, Tony," Walt said. "It's your party, after all."

"Ziva's idea," Tony corrected. "I had nothing to do with this. Other than helping her with whatever she needed." He tugged a laughing Ziva to his side, one arm circled around her waist. "Uh, let me see here. I went to OSU on a basketball scholarship, I was in the Marine Reserves during that time and signed up for active duty as soon as I was out of school, and I have never made out with a guy."

Tony grinned at his own two lies and a truth, and at the curious looks of the others in the group. Ziva snorted, cuddling into his side as she gave him a sarcastic, bright smile.

Walt looked between the two, a half smile on his face. "I am going to guess that the first is a lie. You don't seem the type to ever have a gay relationship, so that one would be a truth." He spoke openly, without being touchy about his sexual leanings, something that Ziva noted and stored. _Ducky might find it curious,_ she mused.

Garrett looked at Tony quizzically. "I don't know. Out in the middle of a desert with no or few women, a man can get pretty lonely. Sometimes that pretty new private can be…" He broke off when Hadil gave him a witheringly teasing glare. "What? It's true! The lonely part, anyway."

Janine glanced between them. "I'm going to say the last is a lie, as well. He clearly did go to OSU, so the first one would be a truth."

Kelsey snorted. "He's too hot to make out with another man."

"Men can't appreciate all of this?" Tony protested, grinning.

Reg laughed. "Sure we can, but you're hers, man." Walt, nodding agreement, gestured towards Ziva.

"Just tell us!" Karen called, which Tom seconded.

"All right!" Tony held up his hands in surrender. "In my defense, he was dressed as a she."

The laughter that burst through the yard was enough to set Tony and Ziva laughing as well, and after several seconds of helpless giggles, Ziva sat up from where she had fallen into Tony's side. "It is time for Walt to go," she said, a broad smile still on her face as she nodded to the Navy man.

Walt grinned broadly, shaking his head as he watched with a bemused expression the carefree way Tony and Ziva were draped around each other. "Okay, my turn then. I have been in a steady relationship for eight years, my secret hobby is cow tipping, and I was raised in Montana for several years before moving to Washington State."

"No way. Wisconsin," Anette argued. "They have better cheese."

"That depends on if cow tipping is a lie or truth," Kelly shot back, her eyes brightly examining Walt, who had an unrevealing smirk on his face. Reg was just sitting beside Walt, hand over his, trying very hard not to laugh. That was slightly more revealing, but for what?

Tony laughed as he pointed out, "I think the second's a lie, since it can't be a secret hobby if he tells us."

Garrett snorted, still slurring slightly as he added, "Naw, it'll be the last. What kind of Navy man comes out of landlocked America?"

"He moved to Washington State after," Karen argued.

Now Reg could not hold it back, and laughed loudly. Ziva looked back at him curiously, and snorted when she realized why he was laughing. "It is the first statement," she said, looking squarely at Reg who suddenly squirmed guiltily a bit.

The choruses of "No" s and "It couldn't be" s were stopped when, tipping his head back in a hearty laugh, Walt nodded. "We're hitting on our eighth anniversary this year, but so far it's only seven and a half years together."

"You," Tony murmured in Ziva's ear but loud enough for the passing Tom to overhear, "get a prize later."

"For what?" Ziva asked in the same low-but-loud tone.

"Your astute powers of observation." Tony looked back up at the group, noticing many slightly jealous looks on the women's faces, and he grinned hugely, turning to Karen. "Your turn, Karen!"

**** Skipping rest for length and my lack of further imagination. Twister time!

Tony placed the last dishes in the sink and came back outside brandishing a familiar multi colored box. "It's time to play some Twister!" he yelled, flipping the lid off the box and unfurling the rainbow plastic sheet.

"Oh my goodness!" Kelsey yelled. "Are you serious? I haven't played this game in _ages_!"

"You should see a pack of rabid five year olds playing it," Shelby laughed, helping Tony and Ziva weight the corners of the game board with large stones. "They trip over themselves and each other, and it's absolutely hilarious."

"All those little bodies, falling in a big bundle?" Ziva smiled warmly at the thought. "It does sound marvelous."

They finished laying out the plastic sheet and Shelby stood, waving the spinner thorugh the air. "Who wants to spin?"

"Oh, I will," Anette called. "I'm too old for playing Twister; my old bones can't handle stretching that far."

"You aren't that old," protested Walt, but he stopped and smiled when Anette gave a huge, suggestive wink when Ziva was not looking.

"Let's get the show on the road," Reg murmured to Walt, and both men grinned at the sneaky Anette.

**A/N: Teaser!**


	13. Chapter 13

Ziva took as deep a breath as she could manage without compromising her position and giving anyone else some leeway. She was currently arched backwards with one foot on green, one on blue, a hand on red and the other on yellow; consequently she was tangled up between Kelsey and Shelby, and arching over Tony. Anette had given up with the spinner by this point and was going all out to tie everyone up in as many knots as possible!

It was only when Ziva was made to straddle Tony front-ways that she gave in to temptation; he had been making numerous remarks throughout the whole game, much to the amusement of everyone else, and now that she had the opportunity, means, and motive, she decided to take advantage of it. Slowly, she trailed her tongue up the side of Tony's neck before claiming his lips in a searing kiss. She could hear the gasps and awwh-ing of Abby and McGee on the other end of the coms, before the voices of Anette and Reg joined in.

As planned, Tony collapsed backwards onto the mat, taking Shelby out in the process. This left Kelsey, and as much as Ziva wanted to win, the only underhand method she could come up with was only going to fuel Tony's imagination. So she decided to leave it to Anette's placing of limbs to make one of them lose. All she could do was thank her training as a dancer when she was younger, and her continued fitness now she was working at NCIS – without that, she would have toppled long ago! Tony was whining about Ziva's tactics of getting him out of the way, as was Shelby.

"Zee, that was so far from the line of fair it looks like a dot!"

"Nice use of quoting a television show Tony – it makes a difference to a movie, but in Israel there are no rules. It is, as you say all gone?"

"It's all goes, but that's beside the point. You can't just do that now!"

"I did Tony, so stop whining – you are putting me off from winning! And who knows, maybe if you are good, you shall be rewarded later..."

Ziva closed her argument with a wink at her 'husband' which elicited wolf whistles from their guests, and a gaping mouth from Tony. She chastised herself – if Gibbs heard any of this he would definitely be head-slapping them next time they made contact, there _was_ a limit to how flirty they could be as a married couple!

There were a couple more goes before Kelsey decided to tickle Ziva – something which had not happened to her for many years. With Twister over, everyone had a quick cup of coffee before glancing at the time and coming to the general consensus that it was time to go. They all thanked the couple for a lovely evening, and Walt elbowed Tony while wiggling his eyebrows.

While Tony and Ziva were packing up, Abby seemed to be holding a conference to analyze the whole evening, especially the game of Twister.

"Oh my goodness, guys! That game was _sooo_ hot! I mean, Ziva, you're so limber and stretchy! Tony... well, you could work out a little more, but seriously, when the two of you were over each other, and then when you licked him... I mean, that was cheating Ziva, but the look on his face made it worth it!"

They could hear McGee speaking in the background, trying to calm Abby down, not that it was having any effect though.

"You two are so good together. Playing twister I mean, 'cause if Gibbs heard anything like that he'd jump to the assumption that Rule 12 was no more, but of course it is, I mean, you're undercover, so technically nearly anything goes. Well, I say nearly anything, but if you came up with a reason for it, then anything _should _pass inspection... Timmy, I'm not going on too much! How could you say that! Okay, well, have a nice night guys, McGee is being a spoilsport and saying I have to go now. See you tomorrow. Well, I'll see you, you won't see me. Except Tony, Tony you'd better come see me tomorrow. Okay Tim! Night, guys. We'll be here keeping you safe."

The agents could feel the smile that Abby was giving them, and mouthed 'good night' at the camera before going upstairs. Tony went into the bathroom first, and collided with Ziva when he was on his way out. There was a moment of silence before she took a couple of steps forward, pushing him backwards a little. She kicked the door shut behind her and looked deep into his green eyes.

Even though she had been caught up in the moment, and had 'engineered' this moment of privacy, it was Tony who made the first move. Tentatively he leant down and pressed his lips against hers; she was not sure who, but one of them sighed into the kiss. It was sweet, soft, and somehow different to their previous ones... As their arms wrapped around each other, they seemed to wake up. Ziva pulled away from Tony as he loosened his arms.

"Tony, I, uh..."

"It was just cover Ziva, just French again."

He could see the surprise in her eyes, and as much as he hated denying his feelings to her and himself, it was easier this way. He wanted to tell her how he felt, but this was not the right time.

As Tony rode the elevator up to the bullpen, there were thousands of thoughts flying through his mind, near to the speed of light. Foremost was the party the night before with Ziva; she had been acting far out of her normal behaviour that it was weirding _him_ out, the DiNozzo! If they were not undercover, Tony might have thought that something was wrong and probed until he found out what it was. For one, she was showing emotions, lots of emotions, and it was not just reserved for when the neighbours were around. Whether it was because she was finally starting to trust him a little more he did not know, but he hoped so. They had been partners for several years now, and a little bit of trust between two partners was always wanted.

The twister-takedown was a prime example of her abnormal acting. Sure, she normally enjoyed getting in his personal space, like in the sexual harassment talk, but it was spontaneous and intermittent, not like the continuous flirting and playing up to him with the neighbors over. And then there was their 'good night'... If the bedroom camera had not already been covered up, then Gibbs would, without a doubt, be knocking him into next week with head slaps!

The ding of the lift roused him from his thoughts, and he stepped out into the bullpen. Once Tony had dumped his bag by his desk, his gaze caught on Ziva's desk: The whole office seemed empty without her despite her sneaky ninja-skills. It was not long before Gibbs arrived, and greeted him with the first head slap of the day.

"She's not here DiNozzo, haven't ya had enough grab-ass at home to realize that?"

"Yes, boss. I mean no boss, no grab-ass, just socializing... With other people there too! Not just me and Ziva, not that we haven't socialized, but you know, it's funny, it's just like in-"

Tony quailed under the Gibbs stare and nodded towards his boss.

"Shutting up now."

"Good. McGee, what've we got?"

Tim stood up and walked to the plasma screen; Tony had not even noticed he was there until Gibbs spoke to him...

"Well, to be frank, not very much. All the original evidence still stands, and it is unclear whether the killer has noticed Tony and Ziva. I mean, with the gatherings, they should have, and hopefully the killer is linked to one of the guests, but with the footage... Nothing's been hinted at or towards, boss."

"Go down to the lab and run the faces against AFIS with Abby."

"On it."

"Tony, we need specific intel. Get Ziver to do some profiling on a notepad or something, so you can bring it in tomorrow. We need full names, backgrounds, descriptions, psychological statuses, anything Ziver can write down."

"I can call her-"

"Ask her tonight, DiNozzo. Anything you wanna say?"

"No, should there be?"

"Just wondering."

Gibbs threw his empty coffee cup in the bin and stalked off to get a refill, leaving Tony wondering just what Gibbs knew, how much he had witnessed, and how much he was relying on his gut. Tony paused for a second in the bullpen before deciding that a visit to Abby was required – her actions would be able to shed some light on what was known.

He got a bad feeling when Abby launched herself at him as soon as he took a step into her domain.

"Tooonyyyy! I've missed you _so_ much!"

"Abs, I see you every day, here at work. How can you have possibly missed me?"

"It's not the same, you aren't at your apartment, and Ziva isn't around at all, and the only contact I have with you guys is through the camera! Well, and the occasional email, but can you really call email contact? It's really just a series of 1s and 0s stringed togethe-"

"Abby... I know. And we can't help it – it's just going to have to be like this until the case is over. Speaking of which, any luck on AFIS yet?"

"Tony, you have to give it time – you're getting as bad as Gibbs. And not in a good way. He surprises me when something turns up, you just grope around blindly, hoping something will turn up. It's as bad as asking Major Mass Spec to give a result in 20 minutes – it just won't happen. We got some good shots from the surveillance last night though, and I am right in thinking that the majority of your neighbors were there?"

"Pretty much, yeah. I'm going to get Ziva to profile people tonight though, so there'll be more to work with tomorrow..."

"Well, until that time comes, I believe you and I have a little chat to have, Anthony DiNozzo."

"Abby! What have I told you about impersonating Gibbs? And forgetting that, what did I say _last night_ about leaving Tony and Ziva alone?"

"But Timmy! You saw them on lounge-cam just as much as I did! You don't just lick someone or straddle them, or arch in that way without some meaning behind it! And you know as well, and have agreed with me that–"

McGee coughed loudly to cover up the next part of Abby's sentence, before blushing and looking anywhere but at Tony.

"What's this, Probielicious? Now, don't be coy, tell all to Tony."

"Tim, don't be shy."

"Abby, Tony never does anything to you but there's always some form of repercussion for me..."

"What can I say, McGoo, you just seem to warrant it."

"Fine. Abby-thinks-you-and-Ziva-are-the-embodiment-of-Mr-and-Mrs-Smith-and-should-just-get-together-already-and-after-last-night's-performance-I-agreed-with-her."

McGee just looked at Tony, anticipating his next move, ready to duck anything.

"And what performance would that be? Either of you, speak. Now."

"Tony, we were just talking about Twister... Why, did something else happen? It did, didn't it? Oh Timmy, I knew it would!"

"Abby, nothing happened, okay? I was just wondering what you were talking about, that's all."

"Tony, you can't deflect it _that_ easily."

"There's _nothing_ to deflect. I'm going back upstairs before Gibbs comes down."

"Too late, DiNozzo. Go sort the case file or the gym. Do something useful."

"Gym it is then. Need to work off some extra energy."

That evening was a slow one. Both Tony and Ziva were exhausted from their late night yesterday, and dinner was all ready by the time Tony got through the door. He greeted his 'wife' with a brief kiss and a hug, before they sat at the table and devoured the roast beef and vegetables. They sat down to watch a movie afterwards, but Ziva could see Tony's eyes were closing every couple of seconds before he woke himself up again. Gently, she took his hand and rubbed her thumb over the back of it. He turned his face towards her, his eyes blearily making contact with hers.

"Mmhmm?"

"Tony, come to bed. There is little point with you sleeping on the sofa – you will only complain tomorrow that your back is paining."

"Aching. Back is aching."

"Come. I will come too, there is nothing to do that cannot be left until tomorrow."

"Ziva, I think people know. Abby, McGee, maybe even Gibbs."

"So? We did nothing wrong Tony, we broke no rules, and there was nothing that could be made into what it is not. Come, bed."

She led him upstairs, catching him when he stumbled over his own feet, and helping him out of his pants and shirt. She left him on his side of the bed and went to get herself ready for bed, and when she returned, he was spread-eagled, facing her pillow. Nudging him, she tried to get him to move, finally resorting to murmuring to him.

"Tony. Tony, you have to move over. I need to get into bed, too."

He shuffled back a little, but he was nowhere near to being on his side of their bed. So she slipped in, and tried speaking to him again, putting gentle pressure on his joints to get him to roll over; she only ended up succeeding in waking him a little though.

"Zee, just get here. Share body warmth or whatever. I sleep well when you're in my arms..."

Tony trailed off, leaving the Israeli was shocked at her partner's docility and the insight into his mind, but she attributed it all to being over-tired. She knew he would not be like this tomorrow, or at any other point if he could help it. Not that she would not remind him of this when the opportunity arose, but for now she was content to just lie in his arms and sleep.

**A/N: So… This is pretty amazing, to me. Moste incredible kudos to my new bestest buddy Woody2792, who wrote this, though I did edit it… It's one of the strangest feelings to beta your own story, but Woody is one of those darn Brits so I had to Americanize it a bit. :)**

**And again, I accept anonymous reviews, so if you want to review this again and you already have once while signed in, just log out for a min. :)**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: I did enjoy this chapter, also, and I hope you guys think the style is a bit closer to my normal. I edited it a bit more to reflect my style, plus some added/removed dialog, etc.**

**Disclaimer: Thanks again to Woody2792 for writing what I have no time nor inclination to write anymore! And I draw no responsibility for my memory, which caused me to forget to post this until today even though I've had it for like a week!  
**

The next morning, Tony woke up to the smell of pancakes working its way through the house. He quickly got up and threw a pair of sweats on before walking downstairs and into the kitchen, hugging Ziva from behind.

"They smell delicious, Zee-vah! Can I just-"

She swatted his hand away from the pile on the plate, continuing her attention to the others.

"Histalek, Tony! They are not ready yet!"

He pouted, and then pressed a kiss to her jaw bone before going to set the table. He then managed to make them both a cup of coffee before Ziva put the two plates down.

"You've been busy this morning my ninja, how come?"

"I went for a run, being chicken-penned up in this house all day is not good. And then I looked at the time, and decided that you behaved well enough to have pancakes this morning."

"Cooped up. And I always behave well!"

"Far from it; besides, I had that letter to write to your father about our settling in and how nice everyone is, seeing as you will never find time to do it."

"It's not simply a case of finding time Zee, more the desire. Anyway, you know our new friends better than I do, though hopefully that will change soon enough."

"We are getting off topic. Will you mail it to him for me? I seem to have run out of stamps, toda."

"No problemo, sweetcheeks. Oh, and I should be home slightly earlier tonight, so how about we go out for dinner?"

"That sounds lovely, where had you been thinking of?"

"Well, I've already kinda booked a table at that _popular_ restaurant we heard of, for 6 o'clock, if that fits in with your plans today."

"Of course. I think I shall wear that dress and shawl I bought last month – they shall suit the occasion well. Now go and shower – you smell horrible, and will be late otherwise. Go, go!" she chastised, emphasizing it with a smack to his head.

Ziva shooed Tony away from the table as she cleared their plates up and placed them on the side. From the looks of their kitchen and lounge, today was going to be full of cleaning!

She hoped that her expanded profile notes were okay for Gibbs; she had put some extra emphasis on the ladies Pearl Carter and Beth Hanson simply because they had acted very anti-foreign, even since the report she had sent to Abby after the military support group's meeting. That was the main reason they needed checking out, however she had a gut feeling, like Gibbs did, that neither of them was the killer... She was missing her old life and seeing people at work, although spending time with Tony was equally as alluring.

He seemed different out of work, although she reasoned that that could be because of being undercover. Last night, in the bathroom, there had almost been something between them, and the thought of that scared her. It was not so much the threat of Gibbs (although that was a huge factor), it was also that she felt comfortable with him around; they had settled into a perfect routine, seemed to know what needed doing innately, and she was finding it harder and harder to contain her emotions around him.

Professionally, it could never happen. They both loved their jobs too much, and Gibbs would never allow it to _start_, let alone continue. Abby seemed to have a completely different view on this, although it could be said that her views on many things were different... It is not that she would _object_ to having a 'thing' with Tony – the years spent working together were a testament of their friendship – and she was sure it would last, but it was admitting these things to herself when she had the courage to accept them and follow through on an urge. She had been brought up to hide all of her emotions, but Tony just seemed to bring them out in her, no matter how many defenses she put up.

As her partner ran downstairs to leave, Ziva went to say goodbye to him, intending to kiss his cheek, but instead her lips found their way to his lips, and lingered there a little longer than was necessary.

"See you tonight, Tony, and do not forget the letter!"

"Looking forward to it," he replied honestly, a boyish smile on his lips.

The door shut behind him, and Ziva went upstairs to take a shower – this was going to be a long day.

When Tony got home that night, he was not expecting Ziva to be anywhere near ready to leave, but she was. And what a sight it was, too.

She was standing at the bottom of the stairs, dressed in a slim-line dress that was a deep wine-red in color, stopping just around her knees, and there was a split up one side. The front was modest, dipping slightly into her cleavage, but not giving too much away at the same time; while it was a high-backed dress, easing into shoulder straps. She had a cream shawl over her shoulders to both keep her warm, and complemented her skin tone.

With a cough, she drew his attention away from her body and up to her face, at which point she began to speak.

"You like it, yes?"

He did nothing but nod, while his eyes roamed up and down her figure again, appreciative noises emerging from deep in his throat.

"We shall be late if you do not get ready. Now go, or I shall get changed into something a little more, how do you say, demure."

"I'm goin', I'm goin'..."

On his way past her though, he could not resist wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her close, whispering in her ear, "The things you do to me, Zee... I swear if we weren't-"

She pecked him on the lips and smiled.

"Well we are, so you should just be thankful that you have the chance now. Go, get ready, I am looking forward to this night out."

Exactly seven minutes later he emerged from their bedroom and skipped down the stairs, looping his arm through hers as he reached her. She stiffened a little, not having expected it, but quickly relaxed – he was warm and it felt good. They walked like that to the car, and again when they reached the restaurant.

After an extremely filling meal of beef lasagna and salad for Ziva, and steak and chips for Tony, they made their way down the street, walking slowly and just enjoying the warm evening. Tony looked down at Ziva and smiled, before pulling her to a stop and kissing the side of her mouth. He could not help himself as the kiss gravitated to her lips, but pulled away as soon as he heard Abby on the other end of the coms. "What's happening?" she squealed. "Did you kiss? It sounded kinda like you kissed."

"Erm, there was some of the chocolate pudding by your mouth, Ziva; it was easier than you trying to rub it off."

Abby squealed. "You did kiss!"

They ignored her.

"So you were not happy with simply eating more than your fair share of the joint pudding, huh?"

"I said I was hungry..."

"Do not worry Tony, I was simply jacking you-"

"Joshing. Jacking is a _veeeerrry_ different thing."

"What is this 'jacking', then?"

Tony could think of several ways to describe it to her, but none of them would mean he lived very long afterwards. Luckily Abby jumped in to help.

"Ziva, it's that thing you do to guys. Or they do to themselves. British army signing for 'double time', you know, the _jerking_ up and down one..."

The assassin's eyes opened widely as recognition hit her.

"Joshing. I meant joshing. Though why there is a fascination for names in your language I will remain clueless about."

"Ziva, you can't blame us! That's like blaming Major Mass Spec for not running fingerprints! It wasn't built to do that, and we weren't built to make... hold on... I mean that we didn't build the language or colloquialisms – they just come about."

"Abs, whatcha got for me?"

There was a whispered, "Bye guys!" before Abby's voice got very faint as she moved around her lab and away from the screen.

Tony and Ziva made eye contact before changing the subject – that was something no one ever wanted to get into with Gibbs.

"So, what did you think of dinner then?"

"Very nice, except for the pudding incident, but that I blame on you."

"Well, what about making it a weekly event? Because there's a very reputable Italian restaurant up the road, so we could alternate each week, have a Thursday as our date night. Fridays were and always shall be movie nights, and hey, not many people specifically go out on Thursdays..."

"That sounds perfect. Thank you for tonight, it was nice to go on a date again."

Ziva grinned, glancing up at Tony before kissing his cheek, and linking arms again. They walked closely together until they got into the car and drove off, leaving two people in the shadows watching at the retreating silhouette.

One figure turned around and they shrank further into the shadows before whispering to one another.

"We _have_ to bring it forward. That... That wife, who is undeserving of her heritage, deserves justice soon. That was blatant disregard for cultural tradition and loyalty. Family, whether by blood or culture comes before whatever twisted form of love they have for each other. And as for last night, it was hard to contain myself. Because of her, I nearly shamed myself and our people, not to mention our duty."

"I must say, after witnessing this act of disgrace, and in public too, that I agree. It is sooner than we thought, but it is necessary before she shames us anymore."


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: OK, so I am super-uber-duper sorry. I had one heck of a month last month, between three projects a week in school, and NaNoWriMo. It's a writing competition, 50,000 words in 30 days. I won. My book is pretty stellar, I'll tell you. (At least to me.) But anyway, that's my excuse, and it better be good enough.**

**Woody got this to me weeks ago, I've just either been too busy or procrastinating. I heavily edited the first half, then the second I did a precursory edit over the past five minutes, so blame any incongruities on me not her.**

"They're so cute together, though! What with his gorgeous eyes, and her dark hair, the skin, the cultures, their kids would be so beautiful! I mean, I know that the computer program from years ago gave their children to be really ugly, but the photos weren't great, and as for the language used, it was just so hinky that I had to write my own. Their children would be supermodels, Timmy!" She hopped up and down anxiously, a hugely excited grin across her features. Abby punched a few keys at her keyboard, pulling up the program in question. McGee had to begrudgingly admit that the children were rather attractive.

"Abby, you can't honestly try to win them over with _that_? You're just lucky that Tony isn't here today because of the 'lack of lectures planned'. And could you _imagine_ if Ziva overheard you? She'd be down here with a paperclip or some other piece of stationery before you could say Mass Spectrometer." McGee raised an eyebrow at her, challenging her to argue.

"I don't think she would. See, she really does feel a _lot_ for him, it's just a case of her learning it. And the same goes for Tony."

Abby rolled her lips, fighting another grin, green eyes sparkling at him. McGee sighed.

"Abby, you really are reading way too much into this whole mess."

Abby stared McGee down, and replied in an admonishing tone when he was done.

"Timmy. Stop it now. Of _course,_ they're playing it up for the case-"

"Exactly!" Tim cut in, trying to knock her off this train of thought before she got ridiculously overexcited (like usual).

"_But,_ maybe a part of them can see that it _isn't_ all pretend. They spend so much time together and've had so many ups and downs that they wouldn't be able to function without each other. It's only so long before they see that it isn't all just an act…" She continued like Tim had never even spoken.

"What's not just an act, Abs?"

Both NCIS employees spun around to see Gibbs walking through the doorway of Abby's lab, a perplexed and suspicious expression fixed upon his face.

"El Jefe! How on this earth do you do that? I mean, something crops up, and then you just appear-"

"Bottom line, Abs." He gave her a tight smile, urging her to continue with his hard blue eyes.

"Yes, bossman. Well, you asked Timmy to go through the list of names Ziva gave us, and because there's no new evidence to process, I said I would help so, as I'm sure you know, Timmy's been down here using my equipment because it's so much quicker than the pieces up in the bullpen. Not that the technology up there is defunct far from it, I mean, it still functions, and at a reasonable pace too, but mine is just a lot quicker, easier and advanced…"

She paused, taking a much-needed breath, then caught Gibbs' eye and grimaced, bobbing her head.

"Right, bottom line. Well, there were a couple of surprise turn ups, and a couple of conclusions. The people from the meeting group have no previous records to indicate that they're opposed enough to foreigners to go as far as murder. Sure, they may have the big mouths for shouting off about it and being intimidating, but like Ziva wrote, I don't think they're who you're after."

"Glad we all agree on something." Gibbs was emotionless as usual, but he did look a little more impatient.

"And as for the surprise, _well_. That really helpful person we've seen around the house a lot, Shelby Hartsoe, she's what you might want to call a black sheep. Her brother was a marine, married to an Israeli woman. They both died about a year ago under mysterious circumstances, the case was dropped because there were no witnesses or evidence to say that it was not the accident it looked like. I guess it was possible for it to have been her, but she wasn't investigated at the time; there was no reason to do so…"

"Abby, he's gone." Tim put a hand on her shoulder, cutting off her rant.

"When did he disappear this time? Did you see him go? Does he just materialize and dematerialize, or did he walk?"

"It was more of a rushed exit, about the time you said her brother and wife died."

"Well, why did you let me continue?" Abby protested, her face peevish.

"Because he'll need the details later, and besides, I didn't have the heart to stop you." He gave her a soft smile.

"Oh Timmy, that's so sweet of you!"

"He left you a Caf-Pow, too; I'd better go now, he'll want me to follow up. See ya later, Abs!" And then McGee ran out of the lab too, trying not to knock into anything.

Abby watched as he went, slurping up some of her Caf-Pow and shaking her head slightly. McGee still had a long way to go when it came to rushing with finesse. He really should take more notice of Gibbs' style...

Meanwhile, Ziva and Tony were sat on a large picnic blanket in the local park, eating lunch with Shelby and her little girl, Katie. They were coming to the end of their meal though, so Katie was getting restless and wanting to play games. Luckily, Shelby had brought a few with her, so there were going to be less interruptions 'while the adults sat and talked'.

They were involved in a discussion over local communities and the responsibility they had when Gibbs started speaking to his agents over the comms. They shared a look, and silently agreed that Ziva would listen while Tony kept his attention on Shelby so that nothing seemed out of place. Ziva gave Shelby a soft smile then turned as if to look out around the park, observing the park in the crisp air as Gibbs spoke. Tony had his hand resting comfortingly on her knee.

"_Ziva, you've got to stop the picnic somehow. New information has come up. It's about Shelby. Her brother and her sister-in-law are dead, the sister-in-law was an Israeli. Until we know more, I want you to limit contact with her." _Ziva froze, lips parting slightly and back stiffened.

"Ziva, are you all right?"

Shelby's question caught the assassin off-guard; she had not expected her friend to be so observant. Or was that ex-friend?

"Yes, thank you, I feel a second headache coming on, but I cannot take any medication until we get home because of timings and what not." The lie slid easily off her tongue. Earlier she had indeed had a headache, but she had faked taking the medication because it dulled her senses.

"_If you want me to phone Ziver, cough three times now. We can talk more on there."_

Tony squeezed her hand as she coughed, and said, "It'll be all right, sweetcheeks, won't be too long before it goes away."

Shelby began talking again and a minute or so later Ziva's mobile phone rang.

"It is your father, probably calling in response to the letter. I had better take this, if you will excuse me. Sorry."

Ziva answered the phone and walked away, about 10 metres from the blanket and began to talk.

"Hello, and how are you?"

"_Not only was she of Israeli background, but he was a marine. They died a year or so ago–"_

"Good, I am glad that the letter reached you in one piece. Yes, that was all of the news we had, I promise, and no nothing big has happened since..."

"_Although Shelby wasn't implicated in it, or was part of the original investigation, there's no such thing as coincidence. Abby and McGee are running through all of the original files now."_

"I'm sorry that we weren't there for dinner, we had other plans."

"_I don't know how you feel about it, but something isn't right. And the other names you passed are over are fine, just too big for their boots. Pass all this on to Tony before you get back to the house, and figure out what to do. I know we swept for bugs, but anything could have been planted since, so just keep your covers up."_

"Yes, there are lots of lovely restaurants around here, Tony and I are slowly trying them all out; you should come and visit one evening and we should all go out to one."

"_After your show at the restaurant and socializing you should have got the attention of the killer by now, it's just a waiting game. Their killings are steadily apart, but they could change their pattern. Just be on your guard Ziver, I don't want to have to find two new agents."_

"Yes, and it was nice talking to you also. I shall tell Tony that we are expecting you in two days. You keep safe, too. Goodbye."

Ziva hung up and went back to the picnic. During her time away, Katie had managed to fall over and bang her head, so Shelby was going to take her home and patch her up.

The four of them parted ways, and en route back to their house, Ziva explained the team's findings and everything that Gibbs had told her over the phone. Tony was leery of the prospects, but neither let anything show as they entered their makeshift home. There was little they could do now other than continue the game and wait it out...


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: OK so last update before Christmas, mostly because I will be away on vacay until the 26****th****. I have had this chapter for a week or so, but between finishing up classes and just general tiredness (I have all core classes at school this semester so it is more than a little draining) it has taken me a while to get to editing this… But here it is, ladies and gents.**

**Disclaimer: The words are Woody2792's, just the plot and situation is mine. However, NCIS and all the characters belong to CBS.**

The rest of the week went simply and without any problems making themselves known, other than Ziva stoically ignoring her growing attraction to Tony. She was determined that it was nothing more than the enclosed space, and sharing a house together; to all intents and purposes, she was _meant_ to be very close to Tony, in all senses of the word. She had begun to find herself waking up in the morning, lying close to Tony with her head on his chest, or them spooning and his arm slung over her waist, keeping her close to him. She was living every teenage girl's dream, and the irony was that none of it was real.

Of course, without the camera in the bedroom there was no one at NCIS who knew of this development, not that that was stopping Abby from guessing! The forensic scientist was always concocting plans with McGee, who always passed them on, without fail, to Tony, but Tony could not just stop visiting the lab to avoid her, otherwise Gibbs would have known that something was up. And Abby seemed to making use of her emails with Ziva a lot more now – they were still in the context of the cover story, but when Ziva read between the lines, she could see the hints. It was also a useful way for Ziva to learn about the updates being made at the headquarters – it meant that Tony didn't have to find a convoluted and covert way to say it([in case the house was bugged), and Ziva was kept up to date.

Accordingly, she kept attending all of the military support group meetings, jotting a few notes down in her notebook when she got home after each one. She still could not envision any of the other members being the killer but she still paid attention to every little phrase mentioned and the reactions to them. Nothing was popping up, and as comforting as it was to be undercover, like it was back in Mossad, the lack of being able to do anything like she used to in order to keep up the cover was frustrating. Ziva was sure that Gibbs had special instincts other than his gut, which he used in conjunction with her and Tony… She was sure it was because he did not want to let them open up too much, to allow them to get closer than they already were, which would be disregarding rule 12 completely.

Tony was not what you would call the perfect man; he had a history of womanizing, he was so into his movies that it was unbearable at times, and he had some crazy habits. But on the other hand, he was sensitive, attentive, and hopelessly romantic. She had played out this scale within her mind too many times over the last few days, and as much as they could have _something_ with a little work, there was too much they stood to lose. Their jobs for one thing – neither of them would want to be transferred, and the trouble they could get in for putting a case at risk was not worth it. Besides, Ziva was sure that this whole 'liking' of Tony was simply something that would disappear when they were no longer living together.

Tony's work load at NCIS was slowly decreasing because there was nothing that they could do until the killer showed who they were, gave them a hint, or anything. All of the original forensics and data gathered had been scrutinized until the words were no longer making any sense, and there was nothing that had been explored that gave any breakthroughs. This was one of the worst waiting games that the NCIS team had been involved in, because there was very little they could do investigative-ly until this undercover operation was over, simply because of the resources it needed. Luckily for them though, there seemed to be a break in issues within the Navy that could not be sorted internally; unfortunately though, the cold cases were getting to Tony, and he had come home to Ziva every night, complaining of them.

They had planned to extend their movie night this week out to the cinema instead of just being indoors and watching a DVD on the television. Ziva had no part in choosing the movie – it was easier to just leave that up to Tony, and she was ready for him coming home.

She was sitting on the sofa, reading one of her Hebrew books with an empty tea cup sitting next to her on the table, and as she could have predicted, Tony came into the house, announcing his presence in no uncertain terms.

"Zee-vah, puuur-lease tell me you're ready to go out? I don't want to wait a minute longer in this house, and I can feel the cinema calling to me. Today has been truly terrible, and a great meal followed by a movie is the only remedy guaranteed to cheer me up."

"The only remedy? And what of me, do I not _satisfy_ all your needs?"

Ziva had no need to make an encouraging face for Tony to play along; his mind was already there, and probably further too.

"Sweetcheeks, you know that you're the only _true_ satisfier of my needs, but until I am in a suitable frame of mind to cherish every second with you in our lovely double bed, then a film and food will have to do."

"Well saved, Tony. Let us go now?"

"Give me five minutes to get changed and freshen up, then we'll be outta here like a bat out of hell!"

True to his word, Tony came downstairs five minutes later, wearing jeans and a casual shirt, his hair mussed up a little, and smelling freshly of his deodorant.

They got a cab into the town, before eating in the little café opposite the cinema, enjoying a light meal before going into the screen carrying popcorn and drinks. Halfway through the movie Ziva had to get up and go to the restroom; on her way out of the screen, she noticed a familiar looking man sitting three rows behind them, and on her return she took a longer look at him to confirm her suspicions. Sitting back next to Tony, she placed a hand on Tony's thigh and leant closer to him, turning her head a little.

"Everything okay, Ziva?"

"Not really Tony, I think we have been followed tonight. There is a man sitting behind us who was sitting in the café too. It could coincidence, but you know how your _Dad_ thinks."

"Indeed I do. Well, shall we put a show on for him?"

Ziva faced Tony full on, one eyebrow raised at his comment. She did not need to let her thoughts run too far away with her mind, because Tony did not waste too much time. He looped his arm around hers, pulling her closer and looked deeply into her eyes before closing his and leaning in. he claimed her lips in a searing kiss that stopped time for Ziva. She lost track of the movie and melted into the kiss, running the hand that _had_ been on his thigh up his side and chest, her other one moving up to lose itself in his hair. There was a brief whooping from the teenagers in the row behind them, and Tony broke off the kiss to talk to them.

"She's mine you pervs, go get your own, okay?"

There were some disparaging looks given to the pair of agents by the older people around them, so Tony took Ziva's hand and stood up, dragging her towards the aisle before whispering.

"Come on then ninja, if our love isn't accepted here, then I can think of a few other places where it would be."

In order to keep up appearances, they were still very touchy feely on their way out of the cinema, ignoring the attendant as they restarting kissing in the hallway. A minute or two later, they got a cab back to their house, kissing as they were unlocking the door. Once inside, Tony grabbed Ziva's hand before pulling her upstairs, saying, "Sweetcheeks, I can't wait for you any longer, bed?", to which Ziva replied, "But of course Tony."

When they reached their bedroom, Tony slowed it all down, shutting the door behind them loudly and sat them both down on the bed. There was a new glint to his eyes, one which Ziva had not seen for a very long time, not since around his time with Jeanne. He didn't take his eyes off her, as he spoke quietly into his comms.

"_Dad_? Abs? Did you get what Zeevah said about the man?"

"Sure did. Abby's running the CCTV now. We'll get back to you in the morning. Now get some sleep, and I mean that Dinozzo, sleep, or you'll feel it tomorrow."

"Sure thing _Dad_."

In tandem, Ziva and Tony took their comms out of their ears and placed them onto the bedside table before getting into bed. With the duvet pulled up, Ziva was surprised to find Tony pulling her closer to him.

"Tony, what are you doing?"

"Zee, there's a chance this is it. I don't want anything to happen to you, and while I know that you're a super-ninja who can kick the ass of anyone in your way, I can't help how I feel, and right now I feel the need to hold you close and know you're safe. Of course, if this means you're going to shoot me or pull out a ninja move on me, then I'll let go."

"Tony, that is a good reason for it, and although I am flattered by your apt description of me, I too am what you could say tentative. Not scared, just a little apprehensive. After all, we know nothing of the person after us, they could be anyone, and you may well get hurt too."

"Wait, let me get this right, the _ex-assassin_ is allowing _snuggling_ to happen?"

"After tonight's… activities… it seems fitting. "

"You do confuse me, Zee-vah Da-veed, ninja assassin one moment, with few and far between emotions, then… like this."

He placed a gentle kiss on Ziva's cheeks, which ended up gravitating to her lips once again, and it was only when he moaned into it that he pulled away.

"Sorry, that was uncalled for. Goodnight, Sweetcheeks."

"Laila tov, Tony."

And as she lay in Tony's arms, Ziva wondered just what the outcome of this undercover mission would be, and just how Gibbs would react if he learnt everything that had happened that night…


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Sorry for the delayedness, it was on both ends of the chapter-relay this time, everyone tell Woody2792 they wish life looks up for her… (My end was sheer laziness, well and exams at school… I did very well in all and even passed my Chemistry class with a 100 overall, by the way.) Anyway, have at, good readers!**

Both agents awakened the next morning to the phone's harsh shrill ringing in their ears. Ziva felt Tony heave himself over onto his side of the bed and throw his arm onto the bedside table. After a few seconds of feeling around, he rolled onto his back, flinging one arm around Ziva, encouraging her to come close to him.

"Mmhuh?"

"DiNozzo. Awake?"

"Yep, Dad. Awake and listening now."

"Good. Ziver there?"

"Hang on. Honey? It's Dad on the phone – he has news for us."

Ziva mumbled a little and stretched like a cat before creeping even closer to Tony. He moved the phone so it was between them and they could both hear it.

"What's up then, Dad? Ziva's here now."

"McGee picked that guy up from last night."

"Good."

"Got nothing on him, though. Clean, been searching all night."

"Hope you're feeling better now, Ziva 'n' I have managed to avoid the sniffles so far this year!"

"Had to release him 20 minutes ago. Got a cover agent trailing him. Gut says it isn't him though."

"Sounds like you have an excellent meal planned out – make sure you have enough for leftovers though dad."

"Too shocked when we picked him up. Get here early – we need to dig deeper to double check. Killer's still out there, DiNozzo."

"Got to go now dad, work wants me in early today. Okay, you too. Uh huh."

"Goodbye, _D__ad_."

Tony flung the phone somewhere in the direction of the bedside table at the droning sound of the empty line, wincing as it hit the wall and clattered across the floor.

"Could you not just have placed it back in the rocker nicely, Tony?"

"Cradle, Sweetcheeks, it's a cradle. And that would mean moving – I'm far too comfy with you on me."

"That had better get changed then, had it not?"

"You don't have to, honestly, just 5 more minutes…"

"Tony. You have to work early today, and you already spend far too much time in the bathroom on a _normal_ morning."

"You can't rush perfection, Zee-vah."

"Perhaps not, so instead of taking longer than normal and getting no better, go and get showered – I shall start breakfast."

Tony was having a frustrating day in the bullpen. The guy from last night was as clean as Abby would leave a crime scene, and it was frustrating. To go from no leads, to one, and then back to none in such a short space of time was ridiculous. The team were back to having nothing to go on, and were just as far from any lead as they had ever been, so the senior agent decided to go and pay Abby a visit.

The elevator _dinged_ and he stepped out of the metal box and towards the lab, his ears already being assaulted by Abby's love of loud music. The doors 'schwooped' open and she pounce-hugged him.

"Tony! It's so great to see you! What's up in the land of Tony-and-Zva-go-undercover?"

"Nothing, and that's the problem. Got anything that could possibly be even a slight bit used?"

"Nope, and don't be silly Tony, if I _did_ have anything then it wouldn't be you standing there, it would be Gibbs. I do know that Ziva's getting bored at home, and misses going to the bar with the team after a hard shift."

"Mm, she can't go out running, practice throwing knives, or even clean her weapons; I mean, I know she's done deep-cover with Mossad, but I'm sure she managed to get some form of respite then… The only place she could go and guarantee herself privacy would be the cupboard under the stairs."

"Too weird, Tony, even for me, I mean, under-the-stairs cupboards belongs to child abuse or Harry Potter, not ninja-assassin Ziva David."

"Tell me about it… She's so different when we go out though, it's like the A-Team are back."

"Well, she's up to date on everything that's going on here, or lack thereof –"

"You are coding those, Abby, aren't you?"

"What do you think I am Tony, a probie? Of _course_ it's all coded, and yes she understands what I'm saying, and no, there is no ambiguity with it all. Jeesh, have faith in science, and faith in forensic scientists shall follow. Though really it should be the other way round, cos you know, us being friends and all."

There was a pause as Tony caught up with Abby's words, processed them, and made sense of them before he replied, thinking carefully about how to word it so that he didn't sound either over-protective or unnaturally interested, or go to the other end of the scale and sound nonchalant and blasé about it all.

"So… Just how often do you two email then?"

"Eh, depends how early we start. If it's only in the afternoon then it's a slow day for me and a busy one for her, so it'll only be about four or five emails with no hurry to reply, maybe anywhere up to an hour and a half between contacts. If it's a good day, and we talk in the morning too, then it'll be anywhere up to 40, 50, 60… There's no way to tell really – allowing for lunch times etcetera then the replies flow almost constantly, a maximum of ten minutes between reply, only longer if she or I say so."

"Wow… you take note of a lot of small details, Abby…"

"It's my _job_ Tony, of course I do! Would I be able to analyze as well as I do if I didn't pay close attention to detail? No. So don't nitpick, Anthony DiNozzo."

Tony held his hands out in a mock-surrender pose and smiled.

"Alright Abby, well, I'd better go before Gibbs catches me –"

"Catches you doing what, DiNozzo?"

'Nothing boss, heading back upstairs right away boss.'

As he boarded the elevator he could hear Abby's squeal of delight at the Caf-Pow Gibbs handed her, and the secondary sad voice as she said she had nothing for him. As he sat at his desk, and clicked on his emails, he saw that he had two unread ones – one from Ziva from earlier that morning, and one from Abby, sent just before he sat down. He figured that Ziva could wait a little while – he was overly curious about what Abby needed to say that couldn't wait until he next visited her.

_So, Tony, now the boss-man has gone I can email-interrogate you about you and Ziva. I would have one it when you were in the lab, but you had to mention the G-word, and there he was, bam, right behind you. So, how are things in the love-nest? Or isn't it a love-nest? Or is it, and you'll double/triple/quadruple etc bluff me to keep it a secret? I can keep secrets you know, especially good ones that are worth keeping. So come on, spill. You two done anything un-cover related yet? If you don't tell me, I can hunt you down _very_ easily…_

_You'd better reply quickly DiNozzo, or I'll come up there and Gibbs-slap you myself!_

Tony took a deep breath and set to work typing out a reply.

_Abby – _

_If this is an example of the coding you were talking about earlier then no wonder Ziva understands every email you send – it's plain English! And you know about Rule 12 – never date a co-worker – and if you think that I, let alone Ziva, would be willing to dare break one of his rules, especially Rule 12, then you must be crazier than I thought._

He clicked send, and then opened up Ziva's email. While the page froze and re-loaded itself, Tony lost himself in his thoughts of his partner. Were there any hidden feelings that weren't strictly to do with the cover story they had to maintain? He had to admit, waking up with them entangled in each other was a highlight of their day, and he certainly enjoyed seeing a more homely version of Ziva, cooking and cleaning. But then there was the dressed-up Ziva, the one who seemed deliberately out to wow him and make him speechless, almost asking for him to ravage her there and then despite the cameras and plans. Of course, that could be a part of her dastardly plan to get him killed by Gibbs so she wouldn't have his blood on her hands… And was this under-cover Ziva the same as she would be in life? Was he becoming attracted to someone that didn't exist outside of this case?


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Hey, I am working on a Tony/Zee/Rivkin oneshot atm. It should be up in a week or so. Songfic set to RJA "Cat and Mouse". Check it.**

**Disclaimer: Woody2792 does a great job, loves. I spent a bit more time editing this one to my tastes so some of the jokes and emotional input are mine, but most of it is hers.**

As the email from his partner revealed itself, Tony smiled involuntarily. He loved to have contact from Ziva, even if it was an email during work hours.

_My little hairy butt,_

_There is still no further news that I think I should pass on, I haven't remembered anything new, and nor have I discovered anything that you could use in one of your lessons. I hope you father was okay after the phone call this morning – he did sound a little off kilt – maybe he should come for dinner over the weekend? I meant to ask this morning, but it slipped my mind._

_I know you are probably busy searching through all of your old lesson plans so that you can recycle any of the material, but I thought that it would cheer you up to know that I got us restaurant reservations for later tonight. Please be on time – the reservation is for 7 – and you should have no doubt that you will be rewarded should you be on time and make a proper effort._

_Anyway, enough time-wasting, I need to clean the house before fielding my ever-so-popular social life away in order to give me time to choose an outfit for tonight._

_My love, always,_

_Z xx_

Tony had no sooner clicked 'reply' than a hand connected with the back of his head. He let out a wheeze and shook his head a little – that had been a hard one. Clearly Gibbs hadn't drunk enough coffee…

"Email in your own time, DiNozzo. Cold cases or the present one – any breaks?"

"It's from Zee-vah boss, though it was okay seeing as she's on the present case… and I'm working on it boss."

"Well, reply, then get back to work. Still gotta find our man, DiNozzo."

"On it, boss."

Tony began typing his reply as quickly as he could, coding it all alike to Ziva's, and hoping that Gibbs wouldn't give him another head-slap anytime soon.

_Zi,_

_I think you meant off kilter instead of off kilt- Dad without a kilt conjures some unpleasant visuals. Anyway, he would have been – no doubt still is – too coffee deficient to be properly sociable. I shall extend the invitation if you want, though I don't see why you can't… Although if it will earn me extra brownie points with you, then I have no qualms with asking._

_Nothing seems to be sticking out at me from my old lesson plans, though I'm gonna keep file-searching just in case it does. You never know when inspiration will strike! As for my current lesson plan, I'm still a little stuck on it, though no doubt something will present itself in time._

_I shall certainly make sure I'm there in time for the reservation, even though the 'dessert' sounds better than the main course._

_I'm lovin' it,_

_Tony_

He quickly sent the email into cyberspace, before turning his seat to face Gibbs' desk.

"Boss?"

"Uh huh?"

"Ziva's still getting contact from Shelby; she's managing to field it at the moment, but there's only going to be so much housework or shopping or expeditions minus the husband she can do before it gets suspicious. And you're invited to dinner on Saturday evening, we'll cook something up and it'll be a good way for you to see how things are going at home."

"Home?"

"Habit boss, see how things are going at _the house_."

"Didn't say it was bad DiNozzo, just don't get too comfortable, and remember–"

"Rule 12, I know, Boss."

"I was gonna say remember it's the small things like that that save your cover. And you've gotta keep your eyes open for anything that can give you a lead."

"Got it. I've gotta be home by 1830 tonight, Ziva's got a reservation, and it'll put us back out there to attract the attention of the killer."

"Good."

The conversation trailed off, and Tony took Gibbs' lack of eye contact as an indication to get back to the case and/or cold cases. He brought up the files on his computer screen, and after five minutes his face slackened into a bored expression. He glanced over to McGee to see him sporting the same expression.

They were getting nowhere, and this whole undercover operation was hinged on trying to stay a step ahead of the killers. Without vital information or at least a vague idea or hint, Tony and Ziva were at the killer's mercy.

And that was a concept that disturbed Tony.

Of course, Ziva was a ninja-assassin, and as a result more than capable to take care of both of them perfectly, but having to rely on her 'spidey-senses' to alert her of the things they didn't know about was a bit of a daunting prospect. And to have her snuggle up to him in their bed and admit such a thing was something which frightened the hell out of him. She was supposed to be the strong one out of the two of them, the one who would stay unfazed by whatever got thrown at them.

Tony knew that she had emotions inside her, of course she did, she was just a lot better at hiding them than most people he knew, but for her to start sharing them… It was a strong sign that she was trusting him – something he desperately wanted – and he loved that feeling. Just not when they could be in danger.

Of course, if it let him hold her close to him and reassure her then he was fine with that; it was something he had been doing in his dreams for a while now, and to have it in the physical world too… Well, that was a bonus that he wouldn't turn down. He let his mind drift back to the night before, the kisses they had shared, and the frankness of their conversation in bed before they had cuddled up and gone to sleep. He had never had this with anyone, let alone a woman he–

Well, what did he feel towards her?

Yes, she was his partner, and with that came a territory where they would spend lengthy periods of time together, get to know each other to the point of near-telepathy, but anything more? Realistically, it was suicide to even consider anything more – not only would Gibbs kill him, but that was _after_ Ziva found out and tortured him for being inappropriate or his 'usual' self. Of course, all of this was a hypothetical situation, since he didn't know how deep his feelings ran, when the professional side was ignored. Yes, he cared about her; yes he wanted to protect her, but anything more than that? That was something that he would have to discover in time when he learnt to read himself properly.

A _ping!_ from his computer brought him back to the task at hand, and he noticed Gibbs' suspicious glare from across the room. He quickly immersed himself in the files on the screen, flicking to his email page after a couple of seconds to see who had emailed him. Strangely enough, it was McGee, asking if he was okay because 'he looked pained and lost in thought'.

'I'm fine McGoo, and I'm not 'pained', just concentrating.'

The rest of the day was just as boring and tedious; lunch was nothing to be excited over, and even an extra afternoon coffee didn't make things easier. The only thing that kept Tony from getting too frustrated was the thought of taking Ziva out that evening, seeing her transform into a dressed-up lady, and then back into jammies before they relaxed together in bed. He avoided Abby's lab all day, not in the mood to fend off her probing questions, and he made no comments to Gibbs that could be misconstrued or taken the wrong way. The rest of the team were getting just as frustrated and, uncharacteristically, Gibbs sent them all home early.

After a speedy drive home, Tony snuck through the front door and crept up the stairs and on Ziva while she stood at her wardrobe, evidently trying to figure out which dress to wear. He slipped his arms around her waist and pressed a gentle kiss to her neck, smiling a little as he did so.

"Nice try Tony, but I heard you coming up the stairs."

He chuckled a little and released his grip on her as she turned around to face him, resting her arms on his shoulders and looking deep into his eyes.

"Why are you home so early though, were you not meant to have a 'lecture' going on now?"

"Nah, got cancelled, so the boss sent me home – no need for me to be in if there's nothing going on after all. So I figured I'd try and surprise you; dunno why on earth I thought that would work, though."

"I thought that was a very surprising greeting," she replied, words laced with other meanings. Like, what does that mean when we are not on a case? "Hard day at work?"

"You could say that. I'm just glad to be here, home. With you."

No freaking clue, Zee.


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: More action has been promised to me for the next chapter, don't worry.**

The restaurant itself was very classy, and Tony felt a little out of his league, sitting in a designer suit with a gorgeous Ziva next to him, surrounded by people who dined out like that every day. However, as he was trained to do, he put on his dazzling DiNozzo grin and charmed everyone the couple interacted with. True, he did receive a couple of odd looks and surprised expressions from Ziva, but they were nothing untoward or would draw attention to the fact that they were not who they were pretending to be.

While they were sitting waiting for their dessert – a rich chocolate cake with strawberries to garnish for him, and a raspberry trifle for Ziva, Tony took stock of everything going on around them.

There was no one sitting in their portion of the restaurant that he recognized; the waiters were efficient in their service, and there were plenty of men wearing more expensive suits than him, all accompanied by equally good-looking and well-dressed women, sometimes more than one. Strangely enough (or not so strange, considering his earlier thought-turmoil), Tony didn't bother looking at them too closely; he had eyes for only one woman – Ziva.

She was wearing a deep green colored dress, and having taken her shawl from around her shoulders, he could fully appreciate the styling of it. She had decided to go less conservative on this outing that she had previously, although the shawl would have covered her up while outside of the restaurant; the dress showed off her cleavage to the best result – tasteful, yet there, and the dress was, while by no means 'short', showing a great deal of leg. And to top it all off, she was wearing a pair of sexy heels, making her that little bit taller and giving her a little more edge.

As they finished up dessert, Tony put his arm around Ziva's shoulders and pulled her closer to him, dropping a small kiss onto her cheek. He quickly followed this up with a couple more, trailing down her neck until he reached her shoulder, where he gave a slight nip. With a start, Ziva hooked her index finger under Tony's chin and pulled it up and level so that he had no choice but to look into her eyes.

"Toh-nee, do not start something you cannot finish without interruption."

He placed his hand on her thigh, trailing a finger up until it was sitting just above the hemline of it. He flicked his eyes downwards before looking back up to her chocolate ones, his voice lowered to a husky pitch with no input from him.

"Zee, you and I both know that I could _easily_ finish it here…"

"You think I am easy, Tony?"

"Didn't say that; I just know what works and doesn't work; what makes it quick and simple, and what'll drag it on for the longest pleasure."

Perhaps it was his imagination playing up, or Ziva just covered it up very quickly, but Tony would have sworn he felt Ziva shudder as he spoke. However she quickly spoke, leaving no time for Tony to question her about it or think too much about it.

"And as you well know, I know the same about you, my little hairy butt. Now, if you are to showcase these skills you claim to possess, do you not think it pertinent to get the beak?"

"Bill, a beak is that thing that's on a bird's head. Although in some cases they _do_ call that a bill too…"

"Get to the point Toh-nee."

He raised his arm and caught the attention of the waiter, who quickly responded to the request for the bill. So it was not long before Tony was ushering Ziva out of the restaurant, leaving her very little time to sort out her shawl and purse. As the cold air hit them when they got through the front door Ziva turned from being under Tony's arm and nudged him backwards, against the wall. She left him no time to respond to her brash action though, claiming his lips in a deep kiss. But before he could react appropriately, she pulled away and winked at him.

"That is all until we get home, Tony, but once home I cannot be responsible for my actions."

"Sweetcheeks, I don't think I've heard you say anything so appealing to me."

The drive home was almost unbearable, and as soon as they got through the front door to their house, Tony found himself pushing Ziva up against the wall in their entranceway. He was lost in the feeling of her lips on his, the feeling of her body fitting against his, and the feeling of _heat_ between them. For once, he didn't care very much about the niggling thoughts at the back of his head; he was caught up in what he was experiencing. She had started this whole thing, and it _could_ be explained away as undercover work. Besides, what sort of a man would he be to turn down a make-out session with his extremely beautiful and hot partner?

Ziva reversed their positions, moving them a little closer to their staircase, and Tony found his hands gravitating to her hips, holding her close to him. To his surprise, she let out a little mewl of pleasure; it seemed to shock her a little as well as she drew back from him enough to look into his eyes, but not so much that the contact between their bodies was gone.

"How about we move this upstairs, my little Hairy Butt?"

He did not answer, but he simply took her hand and they got upstairs together. With the bedroom door shut, they continued walking until they reached their bed. The whole walk had felt like a glide to Tony; almost like an out-of-body experience where he wasn't completely sure that this was real. It was like something from a dream, and he didn't want it to end. At the bed, they sat down simultaneously, and Ziva tugged on Tony's arm, pulling him in for another kiss. This one was extremely brief though, and there was a tangible tension to the air, thick enough that it could have been cut with a blunt knife. She sat back a little, pulling one leg up and she had a dazed look in her eyes.

"Tony, what are we doing?"

"I have no idea Zee, but whatever it was it felt damn good…"

"We need to talk about this Tony, figure it out."

"Not sure what I dread more: the talk, the resolution of the chat, or what the outcome is."

"I know, it felt so right, but we can't Tony, not until we've talked."

"Mhmm."

Surprisingly, it did not feel odd as they continued their nightly routine as they had throughout the whole undercover mission. And, as on other nights, they slipped under the covers of their bed and went to sleep. In contrast to the last couple of nights they didn't start off with arms around each other and snuggled up but Tony noted, as he fought to stay awake a little longer, that Ziva had wiggled a little closer to him. The last thing he remembered of that evening was slinging his arm over her waist, and wiggling a little closer himself…


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Brits spell things funny. Just sayin'. OK, I have one more chapter to edit which I shall post next week if I remember, and Woody is working diligently on the next chapter. She says the story's wrapping up, just a few chapters left y'all!**

**Disclaimer: Plot's mine, characters are CBS's, writing is Woody2792's.**

They woke up entangled in each other the next morning and before Ziva could stop herself, she kissed Tony's cheek and sorted out a bit of his hair that was sticking up. He moved a little in his sleep, clearly objecting to her sorting him out, but too asleep to verbalize anything. She chuckled a little to herself and lay there, watching as he slept. Luckily he was not due into "work" that day, so they would be able to get out of the house and have that chat they needed to have.

As her eyes scanned over his face, she found herself becoming lost deep in thought. She never saw her partner look so peaceful at work, and it was a nice change to witness it. Of course, he never appeared overly stressed at work; instead he resorted to his playful side and covered up all his worries with jokes and immaturity. She had seen another side of him while they had been undercover on this case, and it was one which she hoped she would continue to see afterwards.

They had been close before they took this case on, that was to be expected since they were partners and trusted each other daily with their lives, but this brought a new meaning to close. While they were not sleeping together in the general meaning of the word nowadays, it was an intimate experience that Ziva was not really used to, having someone be that attentive to her and hold her close if she was scared, or just because closeness gave them both a sense of belonging.

Even though she did not want to admit it to anyone, least of all herself, Ziva could feel herself growing closer to Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo than she had ever planned to. There was a big difference between using sexuality and attraction for a case, and trying to control it because it could interfere with life.

While he may come across as an inconsiderate jerk most of the time, underneath all of that was a kind man who knew her better than anyone else. And what was most scary about the whole thing, was that Ziva was not opposed to getting to know Tony more out of work. Yes, they already shared movie nights when worked allowed, and yes they already knew a fair amount about each other, but there was a difference between knowing because it could be the little detail between life and death, and knowing because it was by choice and genuine interest.

She could tell Tony was waking up as his breathing pattern changed a little, and surprisingly she found she did not put up any resistance when he tightened his grip around her waist, pulling her even closer to him. Now that their bodies were flush against each other, Ziva found his musky scent intoxicating, and could not help but place another kiss on his neck and snuggle into him. Tony's chuckle rang clear through their bedroom, and he squeezed her briefly before loosening his grip on her.

"Am I really that tempting sweetcheeks, that you can't even resist me in the morning?"

"Do not be so stupid Tony, of course I can _resist_ you, I just thought it would be a nice start to the morning."

"That it was, Ziva. How long have you been awake?"

"That is neither there nor here. I was thinking that perhaps we should go on a picnic today, the weather looks good and clear, and it will give us a chance to get away from here. Maybe we should even turn the comms off briefly…"

"Here nor there. And only while we talk– rule three will just have to deal for a while. Well, we'll still have our cells with us…"

With a large bag of food, a picnic blanket and a couple of bottles of soda pop, Tony and Ziva made their way to the local park and settled themselves under Ziva's large oak tree. It served to give them enough shade as it was a pleasantly sunny day, but it was not so much that they would get chilly. They each flicked the "off switch" on their earpieces, poured a drink and grabbed some food. There was silence for several minutes as they ate their lunch and enjoyed every mouthful.

It seemed that neither of them were ready to broach the topic of the night before, and suddenly Ziva felt as though she was a teenage girl once more, shy around boys and men, unsure of how to act or behave. She frowned a little as she took a sip of lemonade – that was not who she was! They both spoke simultaneously,

"Ton–"

"Ziva–"

There was a pause as they both laughed, and this gradually quieted down as they regained control of themselves.

"You first Tony."

"No, really Zee–"

"Tony. Speak or I will make you."

"Hey, I thought this was going to be a nice conversation, with no threats of any sort. A chance to get it all out there and not feel pressured, hence the lack of earwigs. And yes, a spoon _does_ count as a weapon where you're concerned."

"Barely, there is less to be done with it when compared to, say, a fork or paperclip, but I guess that I _would_ be able to use it with intent…"

"I have absolutely no doubt that you could. After all, you _are_ Ziva!"

"Tony, we are skirting the topic, only this time it is voiced, not silent."

"Verbal, verbal not voiced."

"Verbal then. If it really bothers you then I shall go first."

Tony shifted around, fiddling with his watch and nodded at her to go ahead; he was clearly uncomfortable with frank conversations like these.

"As you know, I do not tend to talk very openly like this, if at all, so I apologize if I pause for a while to get my thoughts in one place. Tony, what we have is very special. I know that as partners we are required be close to each other, but I have never quite had a partner like you. Admittedly, things are very different here in America to over in Israel, but even with my partner at Mossad, we were never as close as you and I are. I am not quite sure of the word that is most appropriate to use to describe it, but I know that I have never felt like this about a partner, let alone a man before…"

Here she trailed off. This was as close as she had ever been to laying her heart bare to another human, let alone the one that was the main character in it.

"I do not quite know how to describe it Tony, so I think you should talk now, while I figure out the correct wording."

"Ziva, I know for a fact you mean the most to me that anyone ever has, and I mean it when I tell you you're the most beautiful woman I've ever met. There are some days where I just can't stop thinking of you, and being undercover with you on this case; it's been… hard, to say the least. There are so many conflicting things going on though, and they have to be considered first. I have so much that I want to say to you, but I _am_ afraid."

Tony broke off and left Ziva to contemplate what he had just said as he took a large bite of his sandwich. She had to work hard so as she did not choke on her grape; Tony DiNozzo just admitted he was scared?

The chances of that happening and being said aloud were minimal, and now that he had, Ziva was not very sure of what she should say. She thought it over as she ate another couple of grapes, eventually coming to some sentences that she thought fitted.

"Tony, I know for a fact that you are not alone in what you feel, and you are right when you say that there are other factors which must be considered before we can go forward at all. However, I do believe that it has been a long time coming, and this is a preferable way for it to have come out, considering what the other options were."

"Rule 12 though, that's going to be a stickler…"

"I would suggest we keep it a secret between us until a later date, then prove that it has not affected our work at all–"

"–But Gibbs knows everything that goes on, secret or not."

"Exactly what I was going to say, Tony."

"Ziva, look, I'm relieved we can talk right now, but we have to stop talking in riddles, not so much to clear things for each other, but more for ourselves and get them said out into the open. Just so it's out there, no obscure meanings and hidden agendas."

He opened his mouth to say more, but his cell phone rang out, and he immediately paled on seeing who it was.

"Gibbs… That man is a psychic I swear…"

"Tony, just answer the damn phone call, or he will have you."

"D- Ag- Corporal Smith," Tony answered, stumbling over the words as he recovered from their previous conversation and returned to his cover.

"What happened to the comm pieces?" Gibbs barked.

"Uh, we disabled them," Tony replied, just ambiguous enough for listening ears. Though at this point, if anyone was listening, their cover is already blown.

"Well don't, DiNozzo, remember rule–"

"Three, I know, but the cell was on and I answered, so you know…"

"Comms are more immediate, DiNozzo. You're needed here, Abby's got some news about the Shelby situation."

"On my way."

Ziva squeezed Tony's shoulder as he sighed and hung up.

"You have to go into work?"

"Yeah, got that right, sweetcheeks. Something's up with our friend – Abby's got news too."

"Well, I am sure she has emailed me, so do not worry about updating me. Now go, I shall clear up here. He will not like it if you are late, after all."

"You sure you don't want help?"

"It is fine Tony, now go. I shall go shopping this afternoon; I do believe that a cozy night in tonight is appropriate after earlier. And possibly more so depending on how your boss deals with you. Now go."

"Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs! You're going to both love and hate what I've found. I mean, even _I_ was doubtful about what I could get with the information we had, but here I am, forensic scientist supreme at your service."

"Whatcha got for me, Abs?"

"Well, you know that Shelby Hartsoe wasn't investigated in the original case of her brother's death and–"

"Yuh huh, I asked you to look into it. Point, Abby?"

"Well, she didn't do it. Not only is there no forensics to link her to the scene, but her daughter was sick that day, and the doctor's they go to is a couple of hours drive away from the crime scene. With the time of death, there was no way she could have made it. Not unless she had a time machine anyway, and no one's got one of them, because Timmy and I haven't made it yet."

Gibbs growled under his breath and turned on his heels before striding out of the lab.

"Don't I get a caf-pow Gibbs? That was a lot of work, and to be honest, it took a lot to get that minimal information."

Just before the elevator doors shut she heard, "Put it on my tab." She turned back to her computers and shook her head a little before patching through to McGee's desk.

"McGee, Gibbs is on his way – he's gonna need a monster sized cup of coffee to be vaguely near to grumpy-Gibbs, let alone a pleasant-Gibbs."

The elevator _pinged_ its arrival, and both Tony and McGee made sure that they looked deep in thought and busy with work. It made no difference though, because as soon as Gibbs reached their partition of the bullpen he stood at the LCD screen and called the two agents over.

"Okay, we're back to square one now. No leads, no suspects and nothing to work on."

"Surely it's good in a way, because it means that Ziva hasn't been at risk from Shelby so far though?"

"Yeah McGee, it's great that she _was_ safe, it just means that there are now no suspects to work on. So potentially she could be safe with anyone she interacts with. Equally she is just as unsafe with them. The only person we know she is safe with is Shelby Hartsoe. Tell me you got something?"

"Uhh… Well?"

"Ma-Gee?"

"Afraid not, boss."

"Right. Both of you are going to go through _everyone_ in that damned town, pull up as much as you can about each and every one of them. I want all of them scrutinized until something comes up out of the woodwork, alright? Those Marine wives and their husbands aren't just dropping dead from smiling. Someone, somewhere, is killing them. And we'd better find out soon."

"On it boss."

McGee and Tony spoke in synchronization, and bent their heads over their desk, flicking through files and typing on keyboards with purpose until Gibbs left the bullpen. There was an audible sigh as both agents relaxed a little.

"Let's hope he's more sociable after his coffee, Probie, else it's going to be a very long night for you."

"What about you Tony?"

"Date with a home-cooked meal, my lovely _wife_ and a DVD tonight. Besides, I wouldn't be lecturing late in the evening, get real McSilly."

"I'm sure you can be brought in early tomorrow though, with no lunch."

"Don't go and ruin the dream McGee; I was happy until you said that."

"Only pointing out the truth Tony, if you can't deal with it, then that's your problem. How are things going with Ziva anyway?"

Immediately Tony stiffened up. It was not something he wanted to be bandied around work as a possibility, or even a rumor. Of course, he was aware that many people thought that he and Ziva had already done the horizontal dance et cetera, but that was fictitious; if Gibbs got wind of _McGee_ thinking something was going on…

Well, that was him done for.

It wasn't helped by the fact that he and Ziva had not even _begun_ to get into specifics as to where they were. He was terrified of rejection, learning that this side to Ziva had just been created for the undercover mission, learning that he was falling farther in love with someone that did not really exist in real life…

"Things are just fine, Probie, going swimmingly. Hopefully it looks real enough for the killer to have caught onto us though, that's all I can hope for. Why, don't things look real on your spy cameras and over the comms?"

"I was just asking Tony, since at the start, things were a little uneven between you two, and you hadn't figured things out in yourself…"

"Old story McGee. Undercover is undercover, that's the end. Now I'm going back to work, because as _lovely_ as it is to chat with you, I don't want to get any more head slaps for talking when we should be working."

Gibbs let Tony go at 1700 hours, with a word to McGee that he was to stay until something came up. Tony made no hesitation in gathering his things up and rushing out of the building; Gibbs would not want to put the mission at risk by keeping Tony longer than he would normally be out, but if something came up, he would want as much back-up as he could, mission or no mission. He heard McGee muttering about drafting Abby into research-help, and Gibbs nodded before walking off to the other elevator.

It did not take him long to reach the house, and he opened the front door to the delicious smell of a home-cooked lasagna. He made his way through to the kitchen, getting shooed back out almost immediately.

"Toh-nee! Go and get changed _before_ you eat, I have said this plenty to you before, and tonight is no different."

"Whoa, okay okay. Anything specific? Best suit? Pajamas?"

"Do not be a clown Tony. Neither of those; just be comfortable. I picked up a DVD on my way home from shopping, which I think you shall enjoy. Now, go!"

After eating what could only be described as a delicious and filling main course, Tony was sat on the sofa, a bowl of ice-cream in his hands, and his eyes shut. Ziva would not let him see what DVD she had rented, and had insisted on being secretive over it all. She only let him open his eyes once the introduction had been playing for a minute.

"Oh my… You didn't, did you?"

"Did I what, Tony?"

"You… You rented the original extended version of The Godfather, didn't you?"

"Yes, well, you have been chatting on about it for long enough that I thought I had better see what all the fuss is about."

"Chattering on, sweetcheeks. And toffee ice cream! With sauce as well! I lo– You certainly score the best for this, I swear to the lords of Hollywood above."

"Shush, let us just watch the movie. And don't you dare spill any ice cream on the sofa, or I'll regret letting you eat it away from the table."

About half way through the film Tony realised how close they were snuggled to each other; Ziva was curled up and her head was resting on his chest, while he had an arm slung around her and was tracing patterns on her hip. Even after the film had finished and the credits were rolling, they stayed like that. A brief snore escaped from the mouth of the assassin next to him, and Tony chuckled.

Carefully, he turned the TV off and picked Ziva up, hugging her into his chest. She woke up when he was a little way up the stairs, but at his murmuring she stayed where she was, realizing it would be more trouble to disentangle herself from him than it would to relax and let him carry her to bed.

Once in their bed, sleep came quickly, dreams and darkness falling over the two bodies that were slowly getting more tied up in each other, not just physically but emotionally too.

Across the street, two pairs of heat-sensitive binoculars were placed back into their protective cases. Had anyone been walking along the street, they would have heard one bush whisper maliciously to another, "Not long now, she has done too much damage to be forgiven or repaired. There is _nothing_ about this woman that can be saved, and nothing that could be worked on. We must act soon."

"Patience, my Islamic friend, the plan is coming together; we must just wait for the final strings to be tied, and then she shall be ours."

"And what of him?"

"Do you not agree that seeing his pain permanently etched on his face is punishment enough for him? _She_ is our main target. Though if circumstances agree, then I am sure neither of us shall have qualms about making him pay as well."

"Certainly not, for he is just as punishable as she."


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: Woody2792, kudos for another chapter, but your British was showing, love. :)**

**Disclaimer: Plot and first dozen chapters son mios, next several Woody2972's, and the charries and show belong to CBS.**

Tony was out at work for the whole of the next day, and Ziva barely saw him before he went off to work – it was "a day full of lectures, sweetcheeks". And to enable him to stay a little later at the Navy Yard, he made sure to mention that there was a staff meeting afterwards, to keep track of pupils, and discuss aims of the lessons – at least that way there was an 'official' reason for his later hours. Or at least it was some story along those lines; Tony had made fun of it a little too much and done so many impersonations of actors that she was left to figure out what was real and what was not. Therefore, when she received a phone call from her 'husband' at mid-morning she was a little shocked.

"Zee-vah, do I have to be here? It's hell upon earth I swear…"

"Shalom Tony. What is the problem?"

"McGee caught a little of our act the other night, but the cameras didn't pick it up – he's only working on noise factors. And why he didn't mention it before today I don't know, but something's slipped, because Gibbs keeps looking at me strangely too… You know what his gut is like!"

"Ahuvi sheli, you cannot let these kids run rings around you. I know that they do not see how important this is now, but getting irate at them will do nothing."

"I don't know if I can last, should Gibbs ask me something direct… It's something about his eyes, piercing and blue… They remind me of–"

"It makes little difference what they say. You teach as you know you can; if they choose not to listen then that is their problem. Is that all Tony?"

"No, it's not all. We need to finish our discussion and actually reach a conclusion this time… And as for Abby, well, I feel impending doom radiating from the direction of the lab. Sometimes I think she's worse than Gibbs… Probie is fine, just be touchy and he'll generally leave you alone, Gibbs you do your work and he tends to stay quiet, but Abby? She knows every underhand method of getting information out of someone. It almost rivals your knowledge, but in a completely different way of course."

"Thank you Tony, I am glad I have managed to help you. Now, ignore what they say – they shall learn how important it is to learn when they fail their tests. I shall see you tonight; since you were going to be later home, I thought that perhaps we could go out? Good, Now then, goodbye Tony."

Ziva put the phone back on the table and promptly walked straight into the table leg.

"Histalek!"

She sat on the sofa for a while, collecting her thoughts and not focusing on her toe. Tony did make her chuckle sometimes, even if it was just his normal way of overreacting and being melodramatic over the smaller things. Although if Gibbs had even the _slightest_ suspicion about _any_ of what was going on between her and Tony then it would not be a 'small thing', more of a huge issue.

Ziva was busying herself around the house, moving the furniture so that she could clean behind and under it properly, and she even had the window cleaner out. Yes, it was a distraction technique of the highest order, but when a distraction was needed, what was the problem with getting some housework done at the same time? Ever since the phone call from Tony, she had been almost on knife edge.

It was silly, especially since there was no clear evidence of what had happened, or any direct accusations. Although, when it came to Gibbs, there was really very little need for that – the man knew everything anyway, no matter what people said.

As for McGee, well, he was suspicious over the small things, and he got especially cagey when he thought that something 'underhand' was going on… How much of that was his actual paranoia or just his author's writing-nose calling out was yet to be determined. As she moved the dining table back to its original place, Ziva heard a 'ping' come from the computer so, with a smile, she went over to read the email.

_Hey Ziva!_

_How's the cleaning going? You know, Tony really is a lucky guy to have someone as great as you – someone to cook, clean, and cuddle up next to. Speaking of cuddling up next to, how's that going? I know you don't usually like to discuss these things, but I thought that, since I'm special to you as well, that you wouldn't mind it. Anyway, back to the point, there's still no more news on Jessie's pregnancy, nothing as to the father or sex of the baby, or anything. She hasn't even sent an ultrasound through… Still working on her to come clean though, so I'll keep you updated – I'm talking to her right now as a matter of fact!_

_Hope to hear back from you soon sis – you can afford the odd break from cleaning to reply to me after all._

_Much love,_

_Abby_

Ziva chuckled, Abby's coded emails were just the thing to brighten her day up while Tony was 'at work'. She thought for a minute before settling down to type, a response formed in her head.

_Abby – _

_Thank you for the email, I certainly _do_ appreciate the break from cleaning! I am not sure that it is Tony who is lucky as much as me, after all, he is the one who puts his life on the line for our country; all I do is wait and support him in the best way that I can. But anyway, enough of that! I am sorry to hear that Jessie has not given any details to you yet, however I am sure that if someone was able to get any information from her then it would be you, you are very talented at that after all! But as for any cuddling going on between me and Tony, I will stay strong, it is just as it seems, nothing more and nothing less._

_Now, how are things going with you? It feels like forever since we last met up, and as much as I like the emails, it is not the same. So come on, give me all the gossip you can._

_Love, Ziva_

The ex-assassin cringed as she hit the send button. It was true; she missed Abby and her ramblings about every little thing going on at the Navy Yard, but gossip? Ziva David had never been one for gossip, never even uttered the word gossip outside of solving a case, especially not at or about work. However, for the sake of her undercover persona, gossip it was.

She went back to cleaning around the dining room, rearranging the flowers in the vase and had just started to wipe down the table mats when the next 'ping' sounded out. She finished up with the mats before going over to read the email and reply. It was very much along the same lines as the first one, fishing for information on her and Tony while telling her all about what was going on at NCIS.

Abby made out that Gibbs was just as grumpy as ever, and even more coffee-dependant than usual with this case, McGee was still getting pranked by Tony, and Ducky was still teaching Palmer and telling his tales. However, what really got Ziva was the 'ooh ooh ooh…' at the end of the email as a sign off message; clearly Abby had found something out and had to go.

Ziva sat at the computer for another minute, waiting to see if Abby would message back, but when there was nothing, she decided to vacuum the lounge while she waited. She had moved the single recliner back when the next 'ping' arrived; she immediately went over to see what Abby had left her this time.

_Ziva Ziva Ziva Ziva Ziva!_

_The boss-man just did his usual psychic act, and I had to go and explain the beeping noises to him, hence the time-lapse, but you won't believe how amazingly good I feel right now! Where we were thinking that Jessie was just having one baby, oh jeez were we wrong! Twins! So yeah, it's gonna be a double-lot of trouble when they come, but she'll be ready… She's got to be! Still trying to find out the father's identity, but it' been narrowed down quite a bit… Jessie let a few things drop last time we were talking, nothing conclusive mind you, only partial snippets, but there we go. Never fear, as soon as I hear something, I shall pass it on! Now, any ideas or hints from when you were last in contact with her?_

_As always,_

_A caffeinated Abby x_

Ziva opened up the reply screen, wracking her mind for anything that could be useful. She had already given all the information she thought relevant to Tony, and to go back over the whole mission in her head without her notes would be even worse. Still, she tried, sitting cross-legged in front of the laptop, humming a Hebrew lullaby to try and calm her mind down, to allow her to pick out the relevant thoughts.

So, there were now _two_ killers… That certainly rocked the ship a little, as Tony would say, and it opened up a lot of new opportunities. The original investigation data would not be wrong, per se, just incomplete, and that meant that anything could happen from now onwards. Whereas she and Tony had been predominantly on the lookout for one person when they had gone out, they could have missed something… She doubted it, as they had gone out many times, and had not shut off their minds to the idea of there being more than one killer, but nearly anything was possible in the field.

She raised her hands to the keyboard and had typed a couple of sentences when the doorbell rang out through the house. Ziva's forehead creased a little – she was not expecting any company, although it could easily be one of the neighbors popping in to chat and take advantage of her food and hospitality. She stood up and went to answer the door, peering through the peephole first; Kelly Anderson the real estate agent was there. Even more confused, Ziva opened the door, blinking rapidly against the bright sunlight.

"Shalom, Kelly, is everything OK?"

"Hi Mrs. Smith, yeah, everything's just dandy, thanks. I'm not here on business, just thought I'd pop round to see how things were going and if you had settled in properly. Though if you're busy, it's fine, I can come back another day if that's easier…"

"No, no, come on in. Please excuse the mess, Tony is out at work all day today so I was just doing a little cleaning. Would you like a cup of tea or coffee? I have cake if you would like a slice?"

"Ooh, yes please, cake sounds delicious, thanks. Do you have any fruit juice, or soft drinks? I think if I have another cup of coffee I'll turn into a bean!"

"I shall have to go and get it from the pantry, excuse me for a moment."

Ziva got the cake out on the kitchen side, ready to cut, and went to get a bottle of juice from the pantry. As she went through the door she thought she heard something rustle in the kitchen, but put it down to Kelly walking around; she could not pin it down since she was not fully aware of Kelly's usual "sounds" – with Tony, she could tell exactly where he was, and most of what he was doing.

She grabbed the first bottle that she could see and made her way back towards the kitchen. Kelly was standing there, looking at the cake, and as she turned to face the agent, smiling as she did so. Ziva caught a flash of movement in the reflection from the window.

There was no time for her to struggle though, or see who was standing behind her – a pad of chloroform was clamped down tightly over her mouth and nose. She held off from breathing for as long as she could, elbowing whoever it was, but before she could unleash the full fury of her body, her legs buckled, her eyes rolled back and she was rendered unconscious.


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: So, this is the next-to-last chapter. Sorry it's a little late, I have this as well as the last chapter. Just been very caught up at school. Wanted to get this one up before I go away for 3 days at the end of the week, so, here ya go.**

There was a muffled pair of voices, one talking with a harsh whisper, the other in a jovial and upbeat sort of way; both stopped immediately as Ziva let out a low groan. Her head was pounding mercilessly, and her eyes would not focus on anything, instead leaving her semi-blind and in pain. Testing her situation, Ziva tried to move her arms and legs, finding that she was firmly strapped to a chair; the binding seemed to be duct tape.

A movement caught her eye, and one figure seemed to be getting bigger and bigger; to try to simplify things for her mind, Ziva simply shut her eyes, listening to the placing of footsteps and gait of the walk instead.

After years spent undercover, she could tell roughly where someone was by sound, and with her peripheral senses working as well as she could expect them too, she 'followed' the person around the room in her head; they were circling her. The gait was slightly uneven, the foot furthest from her compensating more, and as the person was walking in a counterclockwise circle then they were carrying something in their left hand, though it was not too cumbersome or heavy, just enough to alter a normal walking pattern.

Whoever was circling her came to a standstill, breathing heavily and facing her; they stood at roughly two o'clock. When they spoke to their cohort, Ziva managed to lock onto their position too – twelve o'clock and stood still, empty handed.

"Oh look, the traitor doesn't even have the gall to look at us. Do you think that she is _ashamed_," spat the voice, "or just too high and mighty?"

"Well, now, that _is_ an interesting dilemma… What does _she_ have to say for herself?"

Ziva's interrogation and torture training kicked in, and she sat there, close-mouthed and limp – if anything was going to hit her she wanted to reduce the pain as much as possible. It would buy her time to figure out who they were, and what was the best way to proceed.

Something hard and thin whipped itself across the top of her arm, leaving a burning sensation. It came again, and twice more before her captors spoke again, leaving her little choice other than to try and see who was holding her. Until the pounding in her head calmed down then she surmised that the best course of action was to just comply with what the two people wanted and act as a wife should in this sort of unprecedented situation – scared and confused.

"If you don't open your eyes right now, you'll get more of that, and worse."

"Why… Why are you doing this? I do not understand… Kelly, I thought you came to say hello?"

Ziva had aimed this simpering voice at the figure closest to her, and was surprised when the figure furthest away answered instead. Things were getting clearer in her sight, but it was not until the person had stopped moving and was just standing five feet away that she identified who it was.

Hadil Deveraux.

Confusion poured through Ziva's body – Hadil herself was a Muslim, yet the people being targeted were Middle Eastern Muslims within mixed marriages, and Hadil was certainly not in a Muslim marriage; Garrett was not a Muslim… Ziva controlled her facial expressions, making sure she only showed a basic level of shock, not an in-depth display of the internal discussion that was raging within her.

"Ha- Hadil?"

"Ah, the sweet recognition I deserve. How you feel at the moment?"

"It hurt, the whipping, but I guess I feel okay now… I just have a bit of a headache. Look, this has to be some joke; will you let me go now?"

"Look, Kelly, she thinks she's going to be released!" cackled Hadil, lips twisted in a sick, sadistic smile.

"Unlikely, Ziva Smith. You think we're stupid, but look at you, how pathetic can you get? When you first came to the neighborhood I thought it was too good to be true, the hard-ass temper and behavior; now we see the true colors of scum; a pathetic and creeping bitch."

Ziva almost smiled in relief; the conversation sounded very much like it had been going along a different tack, almost that they had been found out as agents. But another side to her skilled undercover persona shone through – she could act scared when she had to.

"Please, you can have anything you want, just let me go… I will move away, I will do anything, just… Please?"

"Shut up, bitch! You're going nowhere until you've paid for this abomination that you and your husband are."

"And what a sweet payment it shall be Hadil."

"Oh no, please, no, you cannot kill me!"

"And she grasps it; don't worry, dear Ziva, you won't be remembered for being weak; more so that you will just become a statistic, a small misfortune that will be filed away and forgotten by the suburban population."

"Let us be truthful, Kelly." Hadil turned to Ziva again. "You bring shame on every one of us, and your whole family. What you were doing marrying Anthony may never be known, but I shall tell you this now – it was wrong to marry him. Whatever happened to tradition? Law?"

"It was love, what is so wrong with loving someone?" Ziva begged, inspiring a tear to roll down her cheek.

"It was impure. Now, shut up!"

Hadil bared her teeth in a semblance of a smile as she leaned over to her left and picked up one of the larger kitchen knives that were resting on the corner table. With a malicious glint in her eyes she stepped forwards and rubbed the flat of it against Ziva's cheek, before turning it edgeways and trailing the front point of it down from her cheekbone to her collarbone, and then along to her shoulder. Ziva could feel the blood rise to the surface of her skin, despite not really feeling the knife cutting her skin. There was a rush of warmth where the knife had travelled and, for once, Ziva felt helpless.

She knew that she could not release herself from her bonds and take the two women down without first closing in on a confession. Yes, the simple fact that they had captured, drugged, bound and injured her was enough to hold them while evidence was gathered, but considering how meticulous they had been at previous crime scenes then it would be a lot easier on the whole team if she just held out a while longer and got a…

A stone-solid set of evidence. There were microphones and cameras in the lounge and Ziva knew that Tony would be home around 2000 hours, so she just needed to hold out, or get a confession before then…

The phone on Gibbs' desk rang out in the bullpen, startling the three agents there. Tony looked up before chuckling and turning back to his computer screen, McGee held out a little longer, only looking until Gibbs picked the phone up and met his gaze.

"Yeah, Gibbs."

"Gibbs, there's something hinky going on with Ziva, I want you to come down before I look at anything just in case, and I don't want to look alone. We were emailing and–"

"Down in a minute Abs."

He put the phone back on the base and stood up, looking at his two agents.

"Abby's lab, something's wrong."

Tony was on his feet in the matter of seconds, hot on the trail of Gibbs, leaving McGee floundering for a second before catching up. The elevator ride was hell for DiNozzo; anything could count as 'wrong' to Abby, and if she was in her panicking mode, then she would not do anything until she was certain that there were people ready to take over or to hug. The 'ping' of the elevator brought him back to the present situation, and he exited the metal box and entered the lab straight away. The look of sheer worry on Abby's face was enough to panic Tony, and that was before he noted the lack of music, the increased paleness of the forensic scientist, the death-grip hug she had Gibbs in.

"Abs, you're gonna have to let me go. Whatcha got?"

"It's not so much what I have Gibbs, more of what I haven't got. Ziva and I have been emailing all day, regularly, and it was good. I was keeping her company since Tony wasn't going to be home until late tonight, and she was only cleaning around the house. Anyway, I told her about the new theory of two killers and that although there was no indication or hint as to identities, they were going to be playing hard-ball more than we'd have originally thought. I mean, I'm amazing when it comes to get answers from the evidence, and look at how long it's taken me to even get a partial!"

"Point, Abs?"

"She didn't reply Gibbs. It's been clockwork, all day, until this one. I gave her some extra time, you know, in case she went to the lady's room, or broke a vase or something, but there's still nothing. I even gave her an extra five minutes on top of that, just to be certain. And I didn't want to look at the cameras or listen in on the comms… Call me a coward if you want Gibbs, but I couldn't stand it if there was something really wrong and I went into lockdown here, without you guys knowing."

"Abs, that's sensible, not just being scared for the sake of it. Tony, you comfort Abby. McGee, get the sight and sound feeds running."

The big screen buzzed into life, and it was immediately obvious which of the cameras was picking up the action. With a few taps on the keyboard, it was enlarged and filling the whole of the screen; Tony could not help but gasp, and Abby just turned into his chest, her hands fisting in his jacket lapels; McGee was speechless and just sank into the chair, unsure of what to say or do.

Gibbs was the first to say anything.

"Right, McGee, you stay down here with Abby; I want full backgrounds on those two. DiNozzo, with me."

They left the lab together, and once in the elevator the emergency switch was flipped.

"Right, as hard as it is, we can't do anything yet."

"Boss, are you crazy? You saw her! She's tied to a chair, with two of them, both armed with god knows what, and at their mercy! We can't just leave her like that!"

"DiNozzo, be logical. She can hold her own of anything should go down, and if she's as much of a ninja as you make out that she is, she can get out of the bindings, take them down and still have energy left for more. She knows what she's doin' Tony. And if you turn up, at this time, they'll know something's wrong. It'll be easier in a bit, when lectures can legitimately have finished and the meeting can have been cancelled."

"But boss, they could do anything to her…"

"She won't let them. Now, we need a proper sit-rep, the director needs to be informed, and a proper action plan needs to be sorted. That's what we're doing."

Ziva took numerous deep breaths, being as subtle as she possibly could. Yes, she had withstood some of the harshest torture around, and yes she had survived it, but then she was not sure if she would ever be saved; she was able to shut herself off to everything and close off to the world. This was one of the first times she had ever had to remain fully aware during torture- and not do anything to escape.

After all, she had a specific goal to complete – get the two women in the room with her to confess, leaving absolutely no room for wiggling. There had been enough said that it could be insinuated that they were the killers of the previous victims, and if Ziva was not so work-focused, she could have left it like that, escaped from her bonds, and taken the two of them down before calling into NCIS.

She blinked slowly, clearing her sight as much as she was able to without wiping her forehead, and took stock of her injuries. There was a gash across her forehead where Kelly had lashed out in frustration – it was not particularly deep, but as it had been achieved with a chair leg, there was bruising around the cut already, and it had bled quite a lot, as head wounds tended to. There was the laceration from her jaw down to her shoulder, which had later been added to with another slash under her collarbone – it seemed like Hadil was the type who enjoyed being meticulous and making people pay slowly for their wrongs. Going further down her body, there was bruising on her ribs, Ziva doubted that any of them were broken; there were multiple welts across her thighs and shins, with a few well placed kicks to her shins as well. The injuries were nothing compared to his past, but when she knew that she was to be 'rescued' in… three hours… she was impatient to get to where she needed.

Hadil and Kelly were getting irritated by her refusal to express pain, so they took a break every ten minutes or so, discussing a further 'action-plan' and allowing Ziva to stew in her pain. They began to walk back to Ziva, and the Israeli decided it was time to try and talk again.

"Please, I don't understand why you are doing this…"

"We've already explained our actions to you so stop trying to stall the inevitable."

"Nothing is inevitable; Hadil, Kelly, please? I have done nothing to you, and I am sure that the other couples did not either. I may not be the most observant of my religion, but neither are many people in the village! You yourself have married out of your religion, Hadil, and surely that is the same?"

"It is nothing of the sort. Everyone must pay for their inadequacies in life and their outright disregard of the most precious thing there is: faith. You are not the first, and nor will you be the last, so do not worry about that side of it."

"Tony? What will you do to my Tony?"

Kelly snickered, whirling a knife around in her fingers.

"Well, that depends. Firstly, on whether we have finished with you by his arrival, and secondly on how much you repent. After all, I am sure that you were the temptress; it is always the woman, right Hadil?"

"Oh yes, with the luscious curves and soft hair, it is the women that draw the men into temptation."

"Please, do not harm him, whatever happens. I love him, I would do anything to save him…"

"Then let us cleanse you; at least you are more compliant than the others, they would not even consider the idea. Do not think you shall get off any lighter though, for the end result shall remain."

Both women advanced to Ziva's chair, weapons raised and a glint in their eyes. The agent kept her face looking panicked, but inside she was smiling like a fool. She had done it, got a confession and enough audio evidence to convict them_ both_ of murder.

She began to lightly test out the bindings on her hands – they were tight and not very forgiving, but she would be able to work them loose, given a little time. Her legs were another matter entirely, but if her hands were free then she would be able to disarm them and free herself. A knife tip was under her chin, forcing her to look up at Kelly, while Hadil poked her shins with the broken chair leg.

Both assailants froze when a cheerful whistling was heard walking up the front path and towards the house.

"He was not due back until eight o'clock, we heard it ourselves… You are sure it was today, Kelly?"

"Yes, they spoke this morning, jeez, I'm not a complete idiot Hadil."

"It is settled then, we shall have to deal with him too, and fast – before he sees this one."

There was the sound of a key in the front door, and Hadil moved over to stand hidden behind the lounge door-frame, ready to hit Tony over the head. Kelly meanwhile stayed next to Ziva, her knife now angled so that it was just above her heart.

"One sound, and you shall get it, understand _sweetheart_?"

Ziva just nodded, thoughts racing through her head. What on earth was Tony doing home this early? Was there any backup? _What_ was going to happen?

The handle on the door opened and Tony stepped through, still whistling a happy tune; the sound from his lips faltered as Hadil swung around from behind the doorframe, aiming the chair leg at his head. However, the agent's reflexes were too fast to be struck, and he made a grab for the chair leg, deflecting it off his arm instead as the angle was not quite right.

"Ah well, that's bound to work _one_ day, I'm sure of it."

He grinned like an idiot, and Ziva cursed him mentally. Where was his service weapon, why was it not out and apprehending her two assailants, and why was he _still_ grinning? Kelly had relaxed the angle she was holding the knife at so that it was pointing more towards her shoulder joint now; her face was slack-jawed, disbelieving of what was going on before her.

Ziva could feel her wrist bindings loosening – if it came to it she would be able to squash her hands through it; she expected some sort of action to occur, whether it came from Tony or the two women who had held her captive, but instead Tony just grinned even wider and shrugged his shoulders in a 'couldn't-care-less' sort of manner. Hadil breathed out of her mouth, about to say something when Tony raised his hand in a silencing motion, signing her to wait for a second; he then bent over to scratch his leg with a lot of gusto.

"Sorry about that ladies, had this monster of an itch going on – haven't had one of them for a long time! Now, what's going on here?"

Hadil raised the chair leg up again and Kelly narrowed her eyes in Tony's direction, letting the knife drop a little more. There was no time for action though, as team Gibbs burst in through the kitchen door, yelling at the two ladies to drop their weapons.

Ziva took the opportunity the shrug her wrist bindings off and grabbed Kelly's arm and shoulder, pushing her down to the floor and overbalancing herself in the process. The knife had caught her arm as she took Kelly down, but as she was now lying on one of her assailants and incapacitating her then it was worth it. Tony had disarmed Hadil and had her lying on the ground, his weapon pointing at her head. McGee kept covering Kelly as Gibbs righted Ziva's chair and cut her free.

Gibbs grabbed the phone and dialed 911; Ziva tried to maintain that she was okay, but as handcuffs were being applied to the two other women, she felt everything around her go a little fuzzy and off-balance…


	23. The End

**A/N: So, this is it. The end. I hope you enjoyed it, and remember to thank Woody2792 the most for the last half of the story. Members of FFN, I request you send her messages to thank her, more so than reviewing this. She deserves it more than me for finishing what I started.**

**Thanks to all of you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!**

Taking one last look around the white room that encased her, Ziva sighed deeply and rubbed her eyes tiredly; the rest of the team could not get here soon enough – she had had enough of Bethesda hospital!

She had a very clear recollection of what had happened back at the house, and that both the killers had been arrested, but what was really getting to Ziva was that she had no idea _why_ Kelly and Hadil had teamed up together to kill the Middle Eastern wives and their Marine husbands; she would also have liked to witness the interrogation, but that would have been done by now – she had been in this hospital for three days.

There was a commotion outside her room, and Ziva was unsurprised to see that Tony was at the center of it. With a stumble and a loud voice protesting his right to be there, Tony entered the room with 'style' as he would say. All the Israeli could do was to roll her eyes and slap his arm when he got close enough to her bed.

The doctor was quick on her partner's heels, entering in a more understated and quiet manner and he did not spare anytime apologizing to her.

"Agent David, my apologies; I told him that he couldn't come in. As you can see, he is here anyway."

"Yeah, that's right buddy. Care to tell my ninja just _why_ I wasn't allowed in?"

"Because visiting hours haven't started yet, and the nurses have yet to change Agent David's bandages."

"Pfft, that's hardly a good reason, hey Ziva?"

She narrowed her eyes at Tony before turning to the doctor and smiled apologetically.

"Please, ignore him and his stupid tendencies – he means well even if it does not always come across as so."

"Well, if you're sure… The nurse will be along in a couple of minutes, visitor or no visitor."

The doctor turned on his heel and walked out of the side room, throwing a dirty look back at Tony before he shut the door.

"You just could not wait an extra twenty five minutes, Tony, could you? You just had to cause problems for everyone here."

"I just thought you'd like the company Zee. I know I don't like being cooped up in hospitals, and Gibbs-knows you can barely stand to be in one place when you do have company."

" I am just tired of being in here; it is making me slap at the small things. How comes you have not visited before today Tony?"

"Snap… Well, I spent the night here after they brought you in, making sure that you pulled through properly and there wasn't anything too wrong; Gibbs was letting the suspects sweat it out before interrogating them, and McGee was at the Navy Yard to get all the evidence together. And, well, we were working solidly yesterday to get a confession out of them, on tape, and then we all had reports to do–"

"Speaking of which, mine is in the top drawer over there – I had a spare day to fill yesterday."

"Wow, you sure do keep busy…"

"Tony, I am in the hospital, not a coma, there was no reason for me not to do it, and so I did it."

There was a moment's silence while Tony considered this; the nurse stuck her head around the edge of the door, stopping him from continuing their conversation.

"Now, Ziva, I've got to change your bandages, so your friend will have to leave for a few minutes."

"It is okay Jo, he can stay."

"If you say so. Now, I was thinking that instead of a bandage we could put some steri-strip across the cut on your forehead, but as for the others they have to stay covered until the stitches come out."

"Whatever you think is best. Would you also get the discharge forms for me? I wish to go home today."

"That's not really a good idea. You should stay in for another 24 hours–"

"I have already stayed in longer than I normally would, and I am aware of all the possible consequences. Besides, I shall not be alone when I leave so there is no chance of something going wrong and not being noticed."

"OK, I'll get the doctor to bring them in next time he comes."

There was bustling around the room as the nurse took the dressings off her wounds, cleaned them and redressed them all; the coverings were smaller than before – presumably because there was less fluid coming out, and less padding needed. Ziva took a quick look at each wound before they were covered from her view; she preferred being pre-warned as to what she would have to deal with when she was at home and dealing with them herself. She did not really have a good look at the ones around her shoulder, and there was no chance that she would see her facial ones before she was at home with a mirror, but simply from the way that Tony reacted she knew that they would take a bit of getting used to.

Once the nurse exited the room and the doctor had brought in the discharge forms in to sign, Tony turned to face Ziva fully, concern filling his eyes.

"Ziva, are you sure about this? I know that you can move reasonably well and everything, but they look pretty nasty… and on top of that you said you weren't going to be alone – both you and I know that you live alone; you can't just disobey hospital advice like that either." What he was really wondering was, what if she was not alone, and he was completely jumping the gun. If all they were to her was heat of the moment.

"Tony. I have recovered from far worse and as for being on my own, I cope normally, so what is different about this time?"

"I'd be a lot happier if you weren't on your own, is all, just for the next day or so. Come over to my place, I'll set up the spare bed and we can grab a movie or something. We need to talk as well, and tonight will be as good a time as any."

The Israeli closed her eyes for a second, considering the possibilities. She would be perfectly fine on her own, but after spending the last few months in a house with Tony, posing as his wife, she could not help but concede to his wishes. She nodded her agreement, unable to form the words, and Tony covered her hand with his own.

Their eyes stayed locked for a minute, unspeakable words passing between them until there was a gruff cough from the doorway. The senior agent jerked his whole body back and stood up, chuckling nervously.

"Hey boss, didn't notice you there, I–"

"I _did_ knock, DiNozzo."

"Right, of course you did, Boss, my bad."

"You okay Ziva?" Gibbs asked, looking past the fumbling Tony to the invalid Israeli.

"Yes Gibbs, I am being discharged in an hour or so; I just need to wait for my final check up from the doctor."

"Glad to hear it. All your personal items are being shipped out from the house to your places tomorrow morning; both of you," blue eyes flicked to an open-mouthed Tony, "get the day off tomorrow unless we get another case."

"Of course Gibbs, no problem." Ziva was all business as usual, though lacking her usual coiled muscles.

"The doctor's coming. See both of you in two days."

On the drive away from the hospital, Ziva asked Tony to stop off at the Navy Yard first.

"Why'd you wanna do that, Ziva? Boss'll probably kill me if I take you in..."

"Because I have a report to hand in, Tony, and can you imagine seeing Abby in two days' time? She will take it as a personal offense I did not come to see her. Besides, this way someone can keep her from breaking something." Tony knew she was hurting when she admitted, even jokingly, that she expected something to hurt.

"Good point, last time I had time off she managed to squeeze me so hard it was painful, and not painful in a normal Abby way either."

"Tony, why did they do it?" And she did not mean why did the hospital let her discharge, which was what Tony had been wondering.

"Ducky would call it a marriage of convenience. Kelly was xenophobic, especially people from the Middle East. Hadil was cultural, a purist you could say... She came from a liberal, Westernized Muslim family which encouraged her and her sisters to marry outside the faith, hence her marriage to Garrett – it was really the opposite of stereotypical arranged marriages. She wasn't too concerned with the exact religion of the 'perpetrators' just that they were People of the Book and that they were going against her idea of religious purity. Both of them were the means to an end for the other… It explains why Hadil and Garrett weren't targeted, though there were some notes indicating that Garrett was being watched and possibly targeted by them. At least, Hadil. And as for their background, well, Hadil's parents died in some form of house fire – whether it was deliberate or an accident we don't know. And Kelly had a normal childhood, nothing that would suggest she would grow up into an extremist killer anyway."

"I wonder what the outcome would have been, had they continued without being apprehended."

"What dya mean?" Tony asked, concerned she was dwelling on her torture. He knew next to nothing about practical psychology, but he figured that was not good.

"Well, Tony, would it have come to a natural end, or would Kelly have killed Hadil because she was Muslim, or would there have been a different outcome?" Ah, the serial killing in general. Well that was _better_ he supposed, though Tony tended not to think about those things at all. Too long doing that and he would go crazy.

"Ah, well I guess we'll never know… Are you okay? You're never normally like this after a case."

"This was not a normal case, Tony… We were undercover for a long time. I suppose I formed more connections to these people than normal. How did they listen in to us, do you know? When you were coming up the path they mentioned hearing that you were not due back until late evening."

"A bug in the living room… I'm not sure when they got it there as we've been sweeping regularly."

"It was a shame I could not watch the interrogation." Something of a feral glint flashed in her eye, and Tony was reminded of the old Ziva. He could not help but smile ever so slightly.

"Yeah, but you know Gibbs, leave them to sweat it out over night then hit 'em hard the next morning."

"Mhmm."

They took the elevator up to the bullpen, standing not too close together, but closer than they would were it someone else. It _pinged_ their arrival at the floor, and they walked out, Ziva slightly ahead of Tony. She took the steps towards her desk and sat down for a minute, waiting for Gibbs to return from wherever he was.

Right on cue, he arrived a few minutes later, coffee in hand, file gripped in his fingers.

"Agent David, what're ya doin' here?"

"I have my report to hand in to you Gibbs, and I wanted to thank you for everything."

"Just the job, Ziva."

"Does not matter. Now, I shall go and see Abby before I go home, is McGee with her?"

"Yup."

"Okay. I will be back in a few minutes, Tony."

The two men watched her walk to the elevator and get in it – there was a barely noticeable limp present, and if it was not for the visible bandages on her face neck and shoulder then you would not think there was anything more wrong than a twisted ankle.

Not that a twisted ankle would stand in the way of Ziva David, not in a million years.

There was a moment of silence in the bullpen between Gibbs and Tony before Gibbs nudged Tony's shoulder and nodded towards the lift.

"We need to talk."

Tony nodded and trailed his boss. They waited in silence for the elevator to return from the depths of the Navy Yard. Inside, Tony's thoughts were going at a scarily fast rate of processing – what was Gibbs going to say to him?

Did he know about his intentions with Ziva?

Rule 12, oh dear lord, rule 12…

There was no time for anymore to be considered though, as the doors opened, and Tony was pushed in by Gibbs. The metal box closed itself on the two agents, and then the emergency switch was flipped, plunging them into semi-darkness.

"You and Ziva."

"How did you know boss? We haven't actually done anything, not that you'd know if we had, and that's too much information, but I mean, we haven't spoken about it yet, so we don't really know what's happening or not happening…" Tony paused, well aware he was digging a hole about six feet deep with every word he uttered.

Gibbs did not even validate that with an answer, instead just raising an eyebrow at the younger man.

"Good point. You know everything."

"Don't push it, DiNozzo. She's Ziva." Gibbs' simple response left room for interpretation, but Tony thought he saw the hint of a smile on the older agent's face.

"Are… Are you giving me advice, boss?"

"Nope, just making sure my team doesn't get broken up."

"Of course… I mean, we _were_ going to talk about it, and get everything clear between us, but then the whole capture thing got in the way, and I swear I never meant for it to happen… Not while on a case anyway, and certainly not with Rule 12 in place." He rubbed the back of his neck, unsure of why he was so flustered. Tony usually kept himself fairly suave.

"Just keep it out of the office and there won't be a problem. Everyone thinks you two are together anyway, so I don't foresee Vance having a huge problem when it eventually comes out. Least, none that he'll deal with publicly." Now Tony knew he saw a smile.

"Are you sure boss? Rule 12…"

"Sometimes rules can be broken. Besides, they're more guidelines – my rules, your guidelines. You need your own rules to live life by, Tony. You're serious about her; it's not just a stupid fling. I trust you. Just know that if you screw up, I won't hold her back."

"Yes boss, understood. Thanks–"

"Don't thank me. Just keep it out of the office, and don't let it affect work."

"Sure thing." Tony sighed, almost laughing in relief. The seal of approval.

There seemed to be nothing else that needed saying, so the switch was flicked again, and the elevator returned back to their floor – Ziva was stood waiting for them when the doors opened. Gibbs stepped out and past her, placing a kiss on her cheek and told them to go home. A little confused, Ziva took a couple of steps into the elevator and pressed the button to take them down to Tony's car. They had travelled less than a level before she flicked the emergency switch.

"Is everything okay, Tony?"

"Everything's just fine. In fact, it's better than fine."

"But, Rule Twelve… Are you sure?"

"As sure as I am about you and me, I heard it straight from the horse's mouth."

"There is not room in here for a horse Tony, do not be silly."

"It's… Never mind. The important thing is that Gibbs said it, and I can't have misheard."

"Maybe we should have our talk now, not later then, to clear things up straight away…" She was nervous, more nervous than Tony felt she ever was, but then, this was just as big for her, too.

" I'll go first, if that's okay?"

She nodded at him to go on and speak. He took a deep breath – for the first time in his life he was going to honestly lay his heart wide open and on the line for a woman. Wetting his lips nervously, Tony dove in.

"I don't exactly know what the hell I'm saying, but we've always had a thing, but then again it's more than a thing. I don't like you this much, maybe love you like this, because you're sexy or a ninja. You're, you're you, you're beautiful and fierce and loyal to a tee… And…" Tony faltered, not sure where he had been going. "I'll fight for us. If you give me a chance. I'll fight, and I'll always be there, Ziva."

Ziva took a small step towards him and placed one hand on his chest with her other on his hip.

"Tony, I can think of no one as infuriating as you, no one that makes me this crazy, and no one I would rather be with."

There was a pause, and neither was sure where to go from here. Finally, Ziva smiled at him and Tony smiled at her, small and full of hope. Maybe they could make something work.


End file.
